


Lore and Lee

by MayRaven1798



Series: Shifting Timelines [3]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Alternate Universe, Androids, F/M, Family Dynamics, Genderbending, Sex, The softer side of Lore, Time Travel, messing with timelines, sex with androids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:47:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 39
Words: 119,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25207192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MayRaven1798/pseuds/MayRaven1798
Summary: This is the next story in my AU of female Wesley. When Wesley feels out of control of her own life, she pushes back (aka runs away). Too bad the universe doesn’t feel it owes her anything. Without her Traveller abilities she tries to use her old tech to her advantage and gets stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time and lands face to face with the wrong android.***Basically this is a shameless story about Lore. Inspired by Second Time Around beginning of Ch 12.
Relationships: Geordi LaForge/Robin Lefler, Lore/Wesley Crusher, Wesley Crusher/Data
Series: Shifting Timelines [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1861675
Comments: 41
Kudos: 5





	1. The Return of Grady Skye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jealousy doesn’t look good on anyone.

Life was finally looking up for Wesley. She was happy with her work, she was getting along with her friends who were less and less bothered by her choice in physical appearance. And she was very much in love with her android boyfriend—they’d even moved in together. 

The Enterprise finished their supply runs and another formal diplomatic endeavour and were currently stationed at Star-base Nineteen. It was a quaint little star-base that was planet adjacent. Most of the crew were taking shore-leave and enjoying the change of pace.

Wesley had had enough bouncing around and decided to stay on board and help Lt. Barclay with the final upgrades to the holodecks. As long as she could remain outside of them she had no problem lending a hand. So, all in all, the ensign was happy. 

She was meeting Robin, now almost six months pregnant, for lunch at a restaurant on the star-base. It was as though the moment she started to show her baby bump all pretences were off. The lieutenant was in full-on pregnancy mode which included unapologetic moods swings and taking extra breaks for snacks. Wesley knew of the expression ‘eating for two’, but felt like maybe her friend was eating for a whole baseball team.

“You’re not eating?” Robin asked with concern as she realized her lunch date wasn’t interested in her food. “Are you okay?”

“Calm down, I’m fine. I was just fascinated by how you can shovel all that food in your mouth without choking,” Wesley teased a little mean-spirited,

“Oh, damn. Am I grossing you out? Geordi said I was on the verge of turning his stomach the other day,” she whined in response.

“No...well maybe,” the ensign admitted as she crinkled her nose.

“Sorry, Wes,” Robin winced as she took a moment to breath and take a drink from her glass of water.

“Maybe you have a parasite other than the obvious one,” her friend joked uncomfortably.

“Ha, ha. No I’m just always hungry and I swear everything just tastes so great,” she informed her. “I won’t even tell you how great sex is right now.”

“I’m happy for you about the food, but I have to work with both you and Geordi,” Wesley pointed out and cringed a little. “And I know you find it hard to remember sometimes, but I used to date you. So, never tell me about the sex.”

“You’re no fun,” Robin complained before taking another bite.

The ensign shook her head and went to take a bite of her own meal, but dropped her fork as someone caught her eye.

“What happened? What’s wrong with you?” Robin asked with concern as she followed her friend’s line of sight.

Then she saw who the ensign was staring at; Grady Skye. The tall, elegant half Selelvian was speaking to a merchant across the way. 

“Oh my God! What is he doing here? I thought he was like afraid of space or something,” Robin asked melodramatically in hushed tones.

“Afraid of space?” Wesley repeated like it was the dumbest thing her friend had ever said. “I thought baby brain happened after you gave birth?”

“Shut up, don’t be mean, Crusher,” she shot back crossly. “What are you going to do?”

“What do you mean, what am I going to do? Nothing...I’m not going to do anything,” Wesley informed her quite firmly.

“Do you think Data knows that he’s here?” Robin wondered. Then she made a face and looked over her shoulder at Grady again. “Do you think Data was keeping him from you?”

“Thank you Lefler, you always know the right thing to say,” the other woman said sarcastically as she nervously ran a hand through her pixie cut hair.

“I’m serious, weren’t they pen pals, or something?” 

“Because they’re twelve year old girls,” said Wesley snidely.

“You used to keep in touch with him, didn’t you?” Robin asked, ignoring her comment. When Wesley rolled her eyes, she turned back to watch the man again. “God, was he always that gorgeous?”

“Be careful, Lefler, I think you’re drooling,” added the ensign as she continued to be unimpressed by her friend’s behaviour.

“Oh come on, you’re a woman now. Don’t you think he’s sexy?” the lieutenant inquired with a mischievous look.

“Ugh, no. I do not.” 

“Oh dang it! I think he saw me. He’s not coming over here, is he?” Robin said in a panic as she quickly wiped her face and straightened her appearance.

“It looks like he is, but Robin...you love Geordi. Remember, Geordi?” Wesley rebutted.

“Shut up, of course I do,” she grumbled.

The young man in question arrived at their table. Wesley couldn’t help but give him a once over now that he was close. She hated to admit it, but her friend was right. He was stunning.

“Hi, sorry to interrupt, but I think I know you? You serve on the Enterprise, right?” Grady asked as he gave Robin a flash of his most attractive smile.

“Yeah...um, yes. I’m Robin Lefler, we sort of met when you were living on the Enterprise,” Robin told him, nervously. “It’s Grady, right?”

“Yeah that’s right. You remembered. That’s so sweet of you, Robin,” the young man said lyrically.

Wesley pushed her plate away; the site of the two flirting was making her nauseous. 

“You were dating Wesley then, if I remember correctly. He turned out to be nice a guy...you know after he tried to take my head off,” Grady commented with a laugh. Then he looked across the table. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to be rude. Who’s your friend?”

He fixed his dazzling green eyes on her dark brown ones, but didn’t seem to realize who she was.

“Well Grady, this is going to sound really strange, but this is Wesley,” Robin told him awkwardly.

“Your friend shares a name with your boyfriend?” he questioned, not quite following what she was trying to tell him.

“Actually I’m the same ‘Wesley’, but we’re not a couple anymore,” Wesley explained without humour. 

“Oh, stars, what happened? Was it some kind of freak accident?” asked the curly haired blond as he furrowed his brow. “I just mean the last few times I saw you, you were a guy.”

“No, no...well, not exactly an accident,” the ensign said nervously as she shifted in her seat. “You know, Robin’s engaged to our chief engineer now. You remember Geordi I’m sure,” she added trying to deflect the conversation back to her friend.

“Oh.” Grady paled a little. There was no love lost between himself and Geordi. “Condolences.”

“Don’t you mean congratulations?” Robin queried with confusion.

“No l mean condolences. That guy was a piece of work,” Grady replied very sure of himself.

“Oh wow,” Wesley mutter as she watched Robin’s face go red.

“Excuse me, but I think Geordi was just doing his best to look out for his friend.”

“Sure, if you say so...How is Data by the way? I was hoping to catch up with him,” the young man added as he tried to avoid eye contact with Robin and focus on Wesley instead.

“He’s good...better than good. Is he expecting to see you?” the ensign asked as nonchalantly as possible.

“No he isn’t. I didn’t even know that I was going to be here at the same time he was,” Grady explained.

“Maybe you should just keep your distance. He has a girlfriend now and I don’t think she’ll be too understanding if you insert yourself back into his life,” Robin rambled a bit harshly.

“Who said anything about that? I just thought I’d say ‘hi’ and thank him again for all his help.”

“That sounds perfectly harmless,” Wesley admitted with a shrug.

“Hey, why don’t you start with talking to Deanna. I’m sure she’d be thrilled to speak to you in person,” Robin suggested as she gestured to the empath having lunch with Commander Riker a few tables away.

“That’s a good idea, thanks. Sorry again for interrupting your meal,” he said gallantly and took his leave.

“How does he do that...he shows up, makes a mess of things and then leaves with a smile on his face,” Wesley grumbled.

“Ugh, now I want to hit him, or at the very least, rip the pretty pointed tips off his ears,” Robin groaned.

“And you said he was sexy.”

“Shut up, Crusher.”

.....

“How was your lunch with Robin?” Data inquired as his girlfriend entered their quarters and flopped down in an overstuffed armchair.

Wesley wasn’t sure why she’d chosen such an arrogant piece of furniture to add to their decor. She hit the large back cushion to try to tame it; and to let out some of her pent up frustrations.

“Did the pillow do something to offend you?” Data asked with concern.

Wesley laughed a little. His words reminded her of naked Data by the stream on Omicron Theta from her impromptu escape several months ago. Back when she’d still been a Traveller and a man.

“No Data, I’m just pretending that this pillow is Grady Skye’s handsome face,” she said with a touch of anger, her amusement short-lived.

“Grady? Why are you suddenly upset because of him?” the android wanted to know, since he was in the dark about the young man’s presence on the Star-base.

“I saw him at lunch today. He wants to see you,” she informed him sharply.

“That is wonderful news. I was so sure that he would never leave Earth,” he commented, unaware of why exactly she was so worked up.

“Is it? Is it wonderful? Should I just be super happy and excited that your very attractive former lover just happens to be looking for you and for some reason you’re just as moved to see him?” she ranted as she wrestled herself out of the armchair. Then she crossed the room and leaned forward on his desk before he could reply. He could tell by her expression and tone of voice that she was not pleased.

“You are angry,” said Data almost too quietly. “I have no interest in him other than to wish him well.”

“Oh no? You don’t think you’ll be tempted to stick your tongue down his throat, or request he share some elicit emotion with you?”

“Wesley stop this. You do not like it when I am jealous over Robin, therefore I do not understand why you would believe that I would enjoy watching you be jealous over Grady,” Data rambled insistently, perturbed by her imagery.

“Hey, I should get a free pass because of how you’ve been about Robin!” she yelled in response.

“I have not even seen him yet and you are acting as though you are unbalanced.”

“Oh please, you’re an android you can see his hot, naked body anytime you want,” she snapped back, but then immediately hated herself for being such a bitch. 

Data didn’t take her bait. He gave her a piteous look and waited for her to calm down.

“I’m sorry, Data. You’re right, I’m a big green monster,” she huffed and then went back to sit in her frustratingly overstuffed chair.

“I will not see him if it will save you from yourself,” he offered with reluctance.

“No, you have every right to see him. I’ll just shut up and keep my stupid, irrational emotions to myself,” she told him with a sigh.

Data stood and walked the short distance to where she was being consumed by the chair. “I forgive you, you dork,” he told her with a grin. She’d called him a dork on a few occasions and he thought it suited her in this instance.

Wesley smiled at his use of one her idioms, but then she frowned as she sunk deeper into her seat. 

“Data, I think I hate this chair,” she moaned. The android’s smile broadened and he reached down to help her get up and out of the chair again. “Thanks. You could have just let it eat me.”

“The chair? That would have been tragic. To have survived so much only to be murdered by a mediocre piece of furniture,” he joked.

Wesley laughed and put her arms around his middle. “I love you, you know that right?”

“Yes, I do; and I love you. Why else would I have saved you just now?”

.....


	2. Absence makes the heart grow fonder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Data catches up with his former lover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you’re lost, dear reader, Grady Skye was in my first TNG story about Data “Old Friends and New Acquaintances”.

“Ensign you’re staring,” said LaForge without lifting his eyes from his screen.

Ensign Crusher stood straighter in the doorway of the Chief Engineer’s office. She didn’t want to disturb him, but managed to fail in her efforts.

“Sorry, sir. I just wanted to talk to you about something,” she told him softly, keeping her voice down.

LaForge looked up at her expectantly and motioned to the chair opposite. “Have a seat.”

“So, I‘ve been wanting to ask you something,” she began as she sat down. “It’s just now that Data and I are so close....I was hoping that maybe, as a side project...I figured you’d be the one to ask...”

“What, Wes? Just spit it out,” the chief instructed as he quickly lost his patience.

“I want to know more about Data and how he works. You’re his best friend and the closest thing we have to an expert where he’s concerned,” she rambled. “I know that even though I’m just a basic human now I’m still intelligent and fully capable of learning about cybernetics.”

“Well, Wes if you’re really serious about this and it’s not just so you can mess with his sensors, or any of his programs, I don’t see why not,” replied LaForge with interest. 

“No, sir. I will never again mess with any of Data’s technology.”

“Alright. Did you ask Data what he thought about it?” 

“Not yet. I guess I wanted to see how you felt about it first,” she admitted.

“You know, everything I’ve learned was either from Data, or from procedures and diagnostics we’ve done over the years,” he informed her. “You can probably start with reviewing our logs and reports.”

“That would be great and I promise to let Data know what I’m doing.”

“Hey, Wes, before you go,” he commented as she stood from her seat. “Robin told me that you ran into Grady yesterday. Are you okay?”

“Sure, I’m fine. I might have gotten a little jealous, but it’s not like we got into another physical altercation,” she told him a shrug.

“Okay, well good,” LaForge said with some relief. “I just wanted to make sure your sudden interest in how Data works isn’t a reaction to speaking to Grady.”

“Oh, no. I’ve been thinking about this for a while,” she assured him. “That guy has nothing to do with it.”

“Good. Besides, we made sure Data can block his influence, so you have no reason for concern.”

“Right, good to know,” Crusher said casually as she started to walk away. Then she stopped abruptly and turned back to her superior. “Geordi, you don’t think I have anything to worry about, right?”

“About Grady? Nah, I think as long as Data’s attached to you there’s no need to worry about that kid manipulating his way back into his life,” LaForge replied with sincerity.

“But Data liked that he was a guy?” the ensign added as she fidgeted with her hands by the doorway.

“Wes, honestly, you need to talk to Data about that kind of thing,” he insisted. “I really don’t feel comfortable speculating.”

“Sure, right. I’m sorry I even asked,” she apologized.

“Goodbye, Wesley,” Geordi said with a wave of his hand as he went back to work.

“Bye, sir.”

......

Data decided to seek Grady out since he wasn’t in Starfleet and would have a difficult time being granted access to the Enterprise without a pre-authorization. He sent the young man a message and received a reply to meet him on the Star-base. 

The android found his former lover sitting in the public botanical garden. It was quite similar to the arboretum on the Enterprise and he found it fitting that Grady would choose this setting.

“Hello, Grady. You are looking well,” Data greeted him kindly.

The young man stood up and gave the android a hug. It had been over a year since he’d seen him in person and Grady had been seventeen at the time. Data quickly became aware of the changes in his physicality. He’d gained a couple of inches in height and had broadened at his shoulders. Overall he looked more mature and Data was intrigued.

“Data, it’s so wonderful to see you,” said Grady warmly with a grin. “You look exactly the same.”

“You have changed some, but I suppose that is to be expected,” Data commented in return. The two men sat on the bench so they could catch up.

“Yeah, Reeva says if I get any taller she’ll need to send subspace messages just to speak to me,” he said with a laugh. Data grinned when he recalled the woman’s diminutive stature.

“You and your sister are still staying close?”

“That’s right. I just came from seeing her, actually,” Grady informed him. “Can you believe she moved back to live on Risa after making such a big deal about seeing the universe and dragging me along with her?”

“That is a strange thing to do, I suppose,” the android said in agreement. “You do not wish to live on Risa?”

“No, not at all. I really like it on Earth. I’m heading back there I’ve just taken a bit of a detour; I have a few days before my transport arrives.”

“I understand that you spoke to Wesley and Robin yesterday. I hope they were not unkind,” Data asked with mild concern.

“I’m not gonna lie; it wasn’t the best, or nicest conversation I’ve ever had, but I guess I caught them off-guard. It’s not like they had any warning,” Grady told him with shrug. “One of them said you have a girlfriend now. That’s really great. I was a little worried that you’d be alone for a long time.”

“Yes, we have been together for several weeks now. I believe things are going well,” the android explained. “How about yourself? Have you had any success finding a partner better suited to your current needs at this point in your life?”

“I really haven’t been looking. Part of my therapy has been about staying celibate and really focusing on what I want in life. Once I know myself better I can be more open to be there for my partner,” Grady replied thoughtfully. “But there is this one guy in my program and I think we’re really connecting. As friends of course...for now,” he added with a touch of secrecy.

“That is good, to have a friend. As long as you both proceed with each other’s best interests in mind,” said Data with caution.

“Of course. Speaking of which, I would really like to meet this woman you’ve been seeing. I think it would be good for me to see you with her—if you don’t mind of course.”

“You already met her,” Data told him, slightly confused. “Did she not tell you?”

“Who? I thought Robin was with your friend, the engineer?”

“Yes, Robin is with Geordi. Wesley is my girlfriend,” he clarified.

Grady’s eyes went wide and then he laughed loudly. “You’re joking! That’s not for real! You can’t be serious!”

“Grady, it is not that humorous a notion,” the android chided with a frown.

“Yeah it is,” he retorted with another laugh. “Look, we got on fine in the end, but that guy must be more mentally ill than I am.”

“That is a very unkind thing for you to say,” Data shot back sharply.

“Hey, I think I know a crazy person when I see one. Believe me, I’ve met enough of them over the past year and a bit. I’m not saying she’s not allowed to have problems, but why the hell should you have to be the one to have them land in your lap? I can’t imagine your buddy Geordi’s been too understanding,” Grady rambled more than a little unkindly.

“You are being a hypocrite, Grady Skye,” Data snapped abruptly. “Wesley has made some important, albeit unusual life choices recently, however, it is not your place to judge her. Furthermore, I love her very much.”

Grady stopped laughing as he began to realize that Data was reacting with intense emotions.

“Oh stars, you do love her,” the young man said with amazement. “That’s new...all of this emotional overflow is new. You barely had a hint of anything when I knew you and now you’re all passionate and offended. You couldn’t even get offended before; you reminded me several times.”

“Yes, I have slowly become more influenced by my emotions,” Data informed him a little calmer than he just was.

“I’m happy for you...about the emotions. I honestly can’t say the same about your choice in mate—but hey, what do I know?”

“Then you do not wish to see how we are together?” Data wondered, unsure if it was even still a good idea considering his former lover’s feeling about his current one.

“How we are together?” Grady repeated, confused for a moment and thinking the android was referring to the two of them.

“Myself and Wesley,” the android clarified. The young man looked a little disappointed before he smiled again.

“You know what, I actually would,” Grady declared with enthusiasm. “Maybe you two can show me how wrong am I.”

“Hmm, I believe Wesley would appreciate the chance to show you as well,” the android noted with a grin.

......

Wesley received Data’s message to meet in Ten Forward. She did think it was a little out of the ordinary, but not too unusual since Geordi and Data would often spend off duty time there for the social reasons.

The ensign walked into the lounge and spotted her android right away, but stopped in her stride when she saw who was with him at the table. 

“Ugh, Grady,” she grumbled quietly to herself. 

She decided to be an adult about it and put a smile on her face. She walked up to the table and gave Data a kiss on the cheek before taking the seat beside him.

“I guess you two have been catching up,” she mused sweetly. “I hope everything’s going well with you, Grady. I think I might have been a little rude to you yesterday. Sorry about that.”

The tall, attractive man gave her a grin and tilted his head to one side. “I’ve been well, thank you,” he replied politely, but continued to watch her intently.

“I apologize for not informing you of my guest, however I was not certain if you would join us if you knew he would be here,” Data explained to his girlfriend.

“Oh please, it’s fine. I knew you were going to be seeing him. You could have had him back to our quarters if you wanted,” she commented casually.

“Our quarters,” Grady repeated as he bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. “That’s so cute.”

“Is it? I don’t follow,” Wesley wondered, unsure.

“It’s very cute,” Grady assured her. “How could it not be? You playing the part of the pretty little girlfriend; sharing your life; sharing your living space; sharing your bed I would imagine.”

“Don’t be jealous, Grady, I’m sure you must have someone special in your life. A fine, young, attractive man like yourself,” she rebutted with a hint of sarcasm.

Data remained quiet as he watched the two banter back and forth.

“I do, I do, but he’s nothing like Data. I mean no one’s like Data—no one could be; he’s so complex and unique and kind....and so generous.”

“He is...Data is very generous,” Wes noted with a smirk.

“And you...in this light I would never guess that you used to be a man,” Grady said with emphasis on ‘man’. “You’re so petit and precious. I bet Data could put you in his pocket and carry you around.”

Wesley’s face flushed and she was finally at a loss for a rebuttal. 

“What’s wrong? I didn’t offend you, did I?” the young man asked with feigned concern. “I was only trying to compliment you on your marvellous transformation. I just hope that you made your decision for yourself and not for anyone else.”

“Grady, I believe you are close to crossing a line,” Data warned him.

“It’s fine,” the young woman told him with a steadying hand on his arm. “It’s nothing I haven’t heard already. I know you don’t approve of me, Grady, but I thought maybe you’d be a little more understanding. I know that you know what it’s like to have people treat you a certain way because of how you look, or for the choices you’ve made.”

The young man suddenly felt bad. She was right, he was being mean on purpose and knew exactly what it was like to be on the receiving end of someone else’s misconstrued judgements. It was one thing to be jealous over their relationship and another to personally attack her.

“I’m sorry, you’re right,” Grady conceded. “I didn’t mean to be so cruel. I guess I’m more hurt than I realized that Data replaced me.”

“I did not endeavour to replace you,” Data told him with a touch of regret. “I did not believe you would return and decided after some deliberation to move on.”

“Well, you certainly know how to pick a partner,” he said almost supportively. “Looks like Wes here needs you more than I did.”

“I’m not some charity case,” she grumbled with offence.

“I didn’t say that you were,” Grady retorted with a frown.

“Please do not fight anymore,” Data pleaded.

Both Grady and Wesley looked at Data with guilt ridden expressions. 

“Sorry, Data,” Wes told her android as she leaned her head onto his shoulder.

“It is alright. I know you have your concerns,” Data replied before kissing her temple.

......

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews and comments always welcome. :)


	3. The Return of the Night Terrors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wesley doesn’t want to be alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for mention of past trauma/abuse/rape.

Wesley retired back to their shared quarters. She had to be up early for her duty shift the next day and decided she couldn’t take any more of Grady. She would have to trust that Data would be loyal and that nothing would happen between them.

There was one problem, however. No Data meant it was more difficult for the ensign to get a good night’s sleep. She tossed and turned for what felt like hours before she finally fell into a fitful sleep.

An oppressive weight pressed her deep into the mattress. She felt crushed and smothered all at once. When she tried to open her eyes she was met with a cruel maniacal grin. Pain burned through her body as she felt herself being ripped in two.

Wesley woke with a cry, struggling to breathe. She was alone. Her heart raced as she tried to calm herself; reassuring herself that it was only a nightmare. She thought she heard voices in the next room, so she slowly got out of bed and listened at the door. She was sure it was Data; why wouldn’t it be? Relieved, she opened the door, but as it slid open a hand closed around her throat.

“Miss me?” Lore hissed cruelly as he crushed her windpipe.

The ensign woke again. Paralyzed in her bed; terrified that she was in fact still dreaming. She hadn’t had any nightmares about Lore and what he’d done to her—to him—since she’d been female. She stared at the ceiling and waited for her heart rate and breathing to slow, but the silence stretched on and she wasn’t feeling any calmer. She began to sob uncontrollably.

Just then Spot jumped onto the bed; Wesley startled and screamed. Spot took offence and hid under the bed again.

Wesley decided she needed to get out of there—she didn’t want to be alone. She could have called on her lover, but she didn’t want to interrupt him. She could have gone to her mother, but she hadn’t gone to her mother over a nightmare since she was a fifteen year old boy. So she chose the only other person she knew she could go to.

“Why is Wesley in our bed?” Geordi asked with thinly veiled annoyance.

“Because she had a night terror and didn’t want to be alone,” Robin said plainly as she cuddled her sleeping friend.

“Robin, seriously? This is not okay,” Geordi informed her with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Shush, you’ll wake her,” his girlfriend scolded.

“Robbie, I know you’re feeling maternal these days, but your little friend was once your lover and I’m not okay with this,” Geordi explained further as his anger mounted.

“Oh please, Wes is with Data now and I’m with you,” she rebutted as though saying the words out loud made them law.

“Then where’s Data? Why isn’t Wes with him instead of being comforted here with you?”

“Maybe he’s on Bridge duty,” Robin offered with a shrug. “Look, Geordi...she was scared and needed someone.”

“Her mother is here; Counsellor Troi is always available; oh yeah and she has a boyfriend!”

“Shush! I love you, but you really need to be quiet,” his girlfriend complained.

“Give me strength,” he grumbled as he threw his arms up in the air and retreated from their bedroom.

The engineer hit his comm badge and called for his friend.

“Data here, go ahead Geordi,” came the android’s reply.

“Yeah Data, buddy, your girlfriend is monopolizing my girlfriend and I don’t really want to sleep on the couch tonight,” he ranted with obvious irritation in his voice.

“What do you mean, exactly? Is Wesley alright?”

“No she had a bad dream, or something and now she’s with Robin. Could you come and get her?”

“Of course, I will be there directly,” Data informed him.

The android furrowed his brow and gave his friend a dubious look when Geordi opened the door.

“She’s in the bedroom with Robin,” Geordi told him as he gestured towards the room in question.

Data crossed the main living area and discovered the two women curled up together asleep.

“This is...this is unexpected,” the android noted with a tilt of his head.

“Tell me about it,” Geordi grumbled in agreement. “I came home after working late in Engineering and found them like that. Well, Robin was still awake at the time.”

“What should I do?” Data asked in hushed tones, clearly out of his depth.

“Go get your girlfriend and take her home,” his friend instructed.

“Of course. Though I am reluctant to wake her,” he added still unsure.

“Look, I’ll roll Robin away and you scoop Wes up and carry her out.”

The android nodded to his proposal and the two men went about the task of getting the pregnant woman to release her hold on her friend. Once Robin had her arms around her boyfriend and Wesley was free, Data picked up her sleeping form.

They’d made it to the living area before Wesley woke up and started shrieking. Robin jumped out of bed and ran to see what was happening; Geordi followed right behind her.

“Wesley, it is alright. It is me; it is Data,” the android was telling the traumatized young woman. He had deposited her on the couch, not wanting her to come to harm. She’d flailed so violently in his arms that he was afraid he would drop her despite his android dexterity.

“Wes, it’s okay. That’s Data,” Geordi said from behind them.

Wesley’s eyes darted around the room and she looked far from convinced. Robin came to sit beside her ex and put her arms around her again.

“You stupid men, she was fast asleep. I told you she’d had a night terror! You can’t just pick a person up and move her without warning,” she chastised them both.

“Robin, is that really Data?” Wesley whimpered after slowing regaining her senses.

“Yeah, Wes. That’s your idiot boyfriend, alright,” she grumbled.

“I did not mean to cause you harm,” Data said softly. The last time he saw his partner like this had been in the holodeck the first time he’d tried to approach the ensign after the incident. She’d cried in front of him and been close to hysterics at times since, but nothing quite so inconsolable since.

“Where were you tonight?” Robin inquired in an accusatory manor.

“I was entertaining a friend,” Data admitted openly. 

“You were with Grady, weren’t you? No wonder she ended up here.”

“Robin, don’t be like that,” Geordi begged.

“I’m sorry, I thought you’d be just as against Data hanging with that kid as I am,” his girlfriend shot back without any consideration to anyone’s feelings.

“I knew, Robin. Don’t be mad at Data,” Wesley told her as though finally aware of their conversation.

“May I take you home now?” Data asked as he offered her his hand.

Wesley stared at his hand for a moment before she slowly nodded and took it. Data refrained from picking her up again, but continued to hold her hand supportively.

“I’m sorry guys,” she said sheepishly to her reluctant hosts. 

“It’s fine. Just get some rest,” Geordi told her with a dismissive wave of his hand.

Once Robin and Geordi we’re alone again, she hit him in the arm. “What were you thinking?”

“I’m sorry, okay,” he told her with genuine remorse. “Wes is so good at pretending everything’s fine. I mean the guy switched genders and just kept on like everything was normal. I forget sometimes that she’s been through something so traumatic. I never imagined she would lose it like that.”

“Okay, fine. I can see how that could happen,” she conceded. They she put her arms around his neck and kissed him with affection. “I’m sorry too. I know how much it irks you when I put Wes first like that. It’s not fair and I’m sorry.”

“Wow, Ms. Lefler, is that personal growth I’m seeing right before my very eyes?” he teased with love.

“Shut up and get into bed,” she commanded with a smirk. “I’m gonna need to burn off some of this nervous energy if I’m ever going to get any sleep tonight.”

“Yes, sir,” Geordi said in compliance as he quickly started to remove his clothes.

.....

Wesley stopped outside the bedroom door. She could see the evidence of her turmoil; the rumpled bedding and the pillow on the floor. Spot didn’t seem to mind the mess and had nested into one of the sections of disheveled blankets.

Data looked at his partner with concern. “Are you not tired?”

“I can’t go in there,” she mumbled as she looked away.

“You have always felt safe before now. It stands to reason that if I am with you, you will feel safe again.”

“That’s the real problem isn’t it? Have I even spent one night without you? When you work nights, I switch to nights. When we socialize, we do it together. We’re less like a couple and more like one person,” she lamented.

“You say this fact as though it were a bad thing. Do you feel that you are losing your identity?” he asked suddenly unsure.

“I’m just really angry at myself,” she confessed, defeated. “I wanted to let you have time with Grady. I didn’t want to be jealous. Turns out it’s not just jealousy that makes me want to keep him away from you. It’s abject terror.”

“Perhaps you need more sessions with Deanna. Everything takes time,” he said supportively.

“I foolishly believed that as long as I wasn’t physically the same that my body would forget what happened to it,” she said sadly.

“Wesley, your trauma runs deeper than what was physically done to you. I know that you know this,” he said with sympathy.

“I need to get out of here,” she said with frustration. The ensign took a deep breath and entered the bedroom to find her clothes. She was tired of running around in her pyjamas.

“Where will you go? Why must you always run away?” Data demanded with a touch of frustration of his own.

“I don’t know, but I can’t do this anymore,” she grumbled as she lay out her civilian attire on the bed.

Data physically stopped her before she could undress. He held her by the shoulders and spun her back to face him. “Do not do this. I am here now. I will protect you.”

“I want to believe you, but for all I know you’ve squirrelled away some of Lore’s memories whether you’re aware of it or not and one day you might be him instead of you,” she rambled nonsensically. 

“I have not done, nor would I ever do such a completely irresponsible thing,” he told her, obviously hurt by her insinuation.

“So you say,” she said unmoved by his words as she pulled away from his grasp and began undressing.

“Wesley, please listen to me. You are behaving irrationally. I know you are afraid, and perhaps you believe that you have reason to be...”

“Say it,” she blurted, interrupting him. “Say I’m acting like a crazy person.”

“That is not necessary,” he said quietly. “You are not insane. You are fearful.”

“Of something that can’t happen again. Of someone who no longer exists!” 

She finished dressing and pulled on her boots. 

“Please do not walk out of that door,” he begged, worried for her safety.

“Or what? It’s over? You’ll break up with me?” she said melodramatically.

“No, I simply meant that it is the middle of the night and you will not function well in the morning if you do not get enough sleep,” he explained. “Why would I need to end our relationship over your desire to leave our quarters?”

“Ugh, never mind,” Wesley groaned before she walked out the door.

.....


	4. Dresses and Disappointments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin tries to be helpful. Data falters in his loyalty.

The next day was not great. Ensign Crusher had official fallen from her top of the world feeling she’d been enjoying a few days earlier. Lt. Lefler found her in a Jeffries tube in the late afternoon.

“Hey,” Lefler called from the landing by the ladder. “You’re not really going to make a pregnant woman crawl over there to talk to you are you?”

“You’re not that pregnant,” Crusher huffed indignantly.

“Crusher, get over here,” she said sternly as she pointed with her index finger.

The ensign sucked up her pride and made her way over to her friend. The two of them sat on the landing, dangling their legs over the ladder. 

“You know, these modern starships have comm links. Marvellous technology. You can talk to someone without even being in the same room,” Wesley snarked sardonically. Robin hit her hard in the shoulder for her efforts. “Ouch!”

“Shut up, Crusher, and listen to me,” Lefler said very seriously. “Data is worried about you, but for some reason he’s even more worried that if he says the wrong thing right now you’re going to break up with him. He is one messed up little android.”

“I just needed some space,” she shot back as she rubbed her arm. “God, when will I learn to keep my distance from you and that fist of yours.”

“Well, which is it?” her friend continued ignoring her pain. “Do you need space, or do you need Data by your side so you can feel safe?”

“I want to be a normal, functional, autonomous person who can be alone just as well as she can belong to someone else,” Crusher explained harshly.

“We all want that, but right now you’re a little broken. So what’s it going to take to fix you?” Lefler rebutted with more empathy than before.

“I don’t know,” she replied with a forlorn shake of her head.

“What if you could confront Lore? Barclay and I could rig up a harmless hologram, or a 3D image that couldn’t speak or react or do anything at all. Then you could use it like a punching bag,” the lieutenant offered with enthusiasm.

“An unmoving image of Lore is basically Data,” Crusher informed her with a shrug. “I don’t need to hit Data.”

“What if we give him a smirk, or some other affectation?”

“Robin, thank you for trying, but I don’t think that’s going to help me.”

“I don’t understand how ‘other you’ could be so heartless as to leave you with all the scars and trauma. Why couldn’t Traveller Wesley carry the burden?” Lefler grumbled.

“Maybe he does,” she noted after some thought. “Maybe he remembers it too. The Traveller said the trauma changed me in how I related to the universe. It stands to reason that he can’t shed it either.”

“This sucks. I was so looking forward to the five of us being this amazing little family,” her friend lamented as she rubbed her baby bump. “You know, we would make everyone sick of how happy and great we all were. Me and Geordi and the baby, and you and Data. Maybe one day the two of you would have your own little bundle of joy.”

“I don’t know about that,” Wesley winced at the thought. She was never really sure that she wanted to be a parent. She liked children well enough, but it just wasn’t something she was looking forward to. “I think it’ll be a long time before I’m even ready to consider the possibility.”

“Oh yeah? How much do you wanna bet that the first time you hold my little one you don’t turn to absolute mush?” Robin teased.

“I just turned twenty-two,” she informed her like it was a valid argument. “Besides, I’ve literally been a woman for less than three months.”

“So what? Isn’t part of being a woman having the right to bare children?”

“And the right not to,” Wesley shot back with annoyance. “Would you even be on me right now if I were still male?”

“If you were a guy and committed to Data?” Robin reiterated and then gave it some consideration. “Of course I would. Data is going to make a great dad...and you’ll make a great parent no matter what gender you are.”

“You’re just going through your whole ‘I’m making a life inside me and it’s the best thing ever’ phase,” the ensign told her. “So I’ll let it slide.”

“Let what slide?”

“Your need to drag me into parenthood and all it’s responsibilities and pitfalls.”

Lefler pulled a face and stuck her tongue out at her friend. “You’re no fun, Crusher. Can’t I have this? Can’t I revel in the excitement before I lose myself to panic when I realize that I have no idea what I’m doing?”

“You know exactly what you’re doing. Besides, you have Geordi along for the ride.”

“Geordi is an engineering genius, but I tried to show him how diapers work the other day and I thought he was going to take a phaser to the thing.”

Wesley laughed loudly and it echoed down the chambers of the tubes. “Oh my God, you’re right. I should be doing this with you so I can witness things like that.”

“I can just see Data getting the diaper pins stuck in his fingers, or wrapping it the baby’s whole body like a burrito,” Robin added with a giggle.

“Robin stop, I can’t breathe,” Wesley begged as she doubled over. She knew that what her friend was saying wasn’t actually that funny. It must have been the sleep deprivation that was making her giddy.

“Hey Wes, are you going to that senior officers’ thing tonight?” Lefler asked out of the blue.

The ensign stopped laughing and made a pained face. “Ugh, I forgot about it. I was actually looking forward to it—before.”

“Why don’t you take off early and have a nap. I really want to see some of their faces when you show up in that dress I helped you pick out.”

“I don’t know if I want to wear it anymore,” she whined, feeling self-conscious.

“Come on, be a woman. Stand up for yourself,” Robin told her with confidence.

“Why was I in love with you?”

“Shut up, Crusher. Don’t be mean to me just because you feel crappy,” she scolded.

......

The Enterprise’s senior officers had been invited, along with their plus ones, to a gala on the Star-base. It was an opportunity for visiting dignitaries and other senior Starfleet officers from various ships to socialize more than anything else.

“Robin, you haven’t stopped fidgeting for past fifteen minutes,” Geordi observed harshly. “If you need to go to the bathroom again, just go.”

Her boyfriend was in his dress uniform, but Robin refused to wear hers since it had been fitted to her pre-pregnancy measurements. She was wearing a crimson, sleeveless gown that touched her calves.

The chief engineer’s girlfriend shot him a look of annoyance. “I don’t need to pee, Geordi,” she informed him in hushed tones. “I’m nervous about Wesley. I thought she’d be here by now.”

“Why don’t you contact her so you can stop worrying?” he asked with raised brows.

“Because that would be a logical thing to do that I didn’t think of by myself,” she told him, feeling a bit of a fool.

“That’s why they trust me with all the important stuff—because I’m good with the logic,” he said playfully before kissing her cheek.

She smiled at him, despite her mood, and stole a proper kiss. She was just about to hit her comm badge when her friend entered the banquet hall. The ensign was wearing the midnight blue dress she’d convinced her was perfect for the occasion. It was also sleeveless and stopped just below her knees. It was also the first time Wesley had dared to wear make up, not there was much of it. Robin was pleasantly surprised how lady-like her friend looked and she let out a sigh of relief.

Robin directed Geordi over to where Wesley was standing so that she wouldn’t feel abandoned.

“Where’s Data?” asked the engineer as he looked around for his best friend.

“Damn it, Geordi. Don’t you think you could compliment the poor woman before you make her feel self-conscious like that,” Robin scolded.

“I didn’t mean anything by it,” Geordi added apologetically. “I was just surprised that you didn’t arrive together. You do look nice, by the way.”

“Thanks,” Wesley said uncomfortably as she adjusted the neckline of her dress. “And I haven’t talked to Data since last night, so I don’t know where he is.”

“Really? That’s weird. I only mean that you two have been joined at the hip for weeks,” he commented as he kept his eye on his wrathful girlfriend; ready to fend off one of her aggressive arm punches. 

“You don’t think he got stuck as Skelton crew?” Robin wondered as she watched her boyfriend flinch. “I’m not going to hit you Geordi, not here anyways.”

“No offence, Robin, but I think you might need anger management courses. I had a welt on my upper arm the size of a grapefruit. I had to have it treated so I didn’t look like a victim of domestic violence before I showed up here,” Wesley explained with actual concern.

“Don’t be absurd,” she tossed back.

“I’m serious, Lefler.”

“Might not be a bad idea, we don’t want anyone thinking you could be an abusive parent,” Geordi told her with a shrug.

“I would never...are you kidding me!?” she said with distress. “Why would you both say something so mean?” Robin looked as though she might cry. Geordi put an arm around her and kissed her temple to calm her.

“Robbie, just stop hitting us. It’s not cute, it’s not affectionate, and damn it, it hurts,” he said sincerely.

“I know, I’m sorry, G,” she told her partner sympathetically.

.....

Data arrived at his quarters after Wesley had left for the banquet. He knew it was inappropriate of him, but he wanted to avoid his girlfriend a little longer. He thought back to what Lt. Lefler had said about her relationship with Wesley and how it had started during a crisis, which effectively bonded them. At the time she had been adamant that her affections never faltered, however they all knew better now since the revelation of her affair with Geordi.

The android was becoming increasingly concerned that he had tried to start his relationship with the ensign at the worst possible time. He should have been patient and waited for her to complete her recovery. In fact, if he had waited Wesley might have remained male without the need to become intimate with him so soon after his trauma.

Things were very complicated; even thinking about it was very complicated. More than the ensign’s trauma was the concern of her age and maturity. If Wesley hadn’t been suited for a relationship with a woman five years older, what logical reason could Data have had to believe Wes would be any better with a male android who was fourteen years her senior?

He sat on the pristine bed, lost in thought, when the door chime rang. He gave consent for entry to whomever it was without asking. After a moment, Grady came to stand in the bedroom doorway. His features full of concern.

“What are you doing in there by yourself?” he asked softly, afraid of disturbing his friend.

“Grady, what are you doing here?” the android wondered, mildly surprised to see him.

“You first,” he rebutted with a weak smile.

“I am not proud to say that I am being a bad boyfriend,” Data confessed.

“Not possible. What are you doing that’s so terrible?”

“I am avoiding Wesley,” the android told him with a frown. “We had a disagreement last night and I have been avoiding her company since. Granted, she took her leave of my company first.” 

“I sincerely hope that it had nothing to do with me,” his friend winced.

“Only vaguely. Wesley suffered a trauma a few months ago and still struggles with her recovery,” he elaborated, sparing him the details.

“Then maybe you’re not being a bad boyfriend at all,” Grady said with a shrug as he came to sit next to the synthetic man. “Maybe she needs her space and you keeping your distance is the right thing for her right now.”

“That is interesting. I had not considered that vantage point until now,” Data replied thoughtfully. He watched his young friend and tried to ignore the pull he felt to make physical contact. He knew that no good would come from it.

The two men sat in silence for a few moments. Grady couldn’t help himself as he let his gaze remain on the android.

“You are staring,” Data noted as his golden-yellow eyes met Grady’s vivid green.

“I just want to remember you better this time. It might be a long time before we cross paths again. I don’t have your perfect memory, you know,” he explained affectionately.

“You seem more self-assured; more content with yourself now,” the android observed with the hint of a smile.

“I hope so. I’ve worked really hard to get here,” he said with a chuckle. Then he frowned a little. “I was really out of line before with your girlfriend. I’ve really tried not to get petty with people.”

“Perhaps it was you recent visit with your sister. Reeva had a way of bringing out your less desirable qualities,” Data told him honestly.

“Yeah, she’s still not a stellar example of upstanding behaviour,” he grumbled as he had to reluctantly agree.

“Grady, did you ever think that you might want to revisit our relationship in the future? You did not make it clear in our correspondence and when I would ask, you often declined to comment.”

“I know it’s unfair to say this now because you’re attached to someone new, but I really wanted to hope that I could be ready for you one day,” he admitted regretfully. “I guess it’s not likely that will happen now. I mean, I’ve done a lot of growing up and growing as a person, but I still have more work to do and you’re in love with someone else.”

“Do you believe it is possible to love more than one person at once?” Data asked with an inquisitive tilt to his head. “Lt. Lefler told me once that it is possible to love one person one way and another in a slightly different fashion, but both were acceptable without interfering with an already established relationship.”

“I think she was talking about friendship, not polygamy,” Grady said with a good-humoured laugh.

“Oh, of course,” Data concurred with raised brows.

“Besides, Wesley doesn’t strike me as the sharing type—and to be honest—I would never want to share you either.”

“Then you must have been slightly distraught to discover I was no longer alone,” the android noted with concern.

“No, I meant it when I said I was happy you weren’t alone...although I’m sure it was obvious I was jealous,” he admitted as his cheeks flushed.

Data leaned over and kissed the young man’s blushed cheek.

“I never believed I would see you in person again. Is it wrong that I regret not waiting for you?” he whispered secretively.

“I don’t know. You could have been waiting forever,” Grady replied just as quietly.

“Yet here you are,” Data told him as he looked from his dazzling eyes to his full, soft lips.

“Data, I’m not doing this,” the half Selelvian told him. “Whatever you’re feeling and thinking is all on you.”

“I know,” the synthetic man replied before closing his mouth over that of his paramour.

Grady accepted his invitation and encircled his arms around the android’s shoulders. They both welcomed the long missed affection, but neither one was fully convinced they could get away with continuing in their affair.

“We can’t. You’re too ethical for this,” Grady murmured into his mouth.

“I am, I am much too ethical,” Data muttered back in agreement without pulling away.

“We need to stop. I care too much for you to ruin our relationship now,” the young man told him as he tried and failed to let the android go.

“Yes, we will stop now and never again give into temptation,” Data continued with good intentions that he seemed to ignore.

Just then Spot jumped up into her owner’s lap and began purring as she demanded his attention. Grady finally stopped kissing Data and pulled away. Both men looked at the feline with mild annoyance that she was suddenly policing their behaviour.

“I must go to a gala on the Star-base,” Data informed him causally as he placed his cat on the bed and straightened his dress uniform.

Grady hadn’t noticed any difference in his attire until that moment. “That’s a spiffy uniform,” he said with a smile. “Mind if I walk back with you? To the Star-base I mean; I’m definitely not dressed for a gala.”

“Of course.”

They both stood very calmly, as though nothing scandalous had just happened between them. Data gave the young man a sideways glance and Grady laughed a little at how uncomfortable the android looked.

“It’s okay, Data. It never happened and I won’t say a word to Wesley,” he confided.

“Thank you,” the android said with gratitude as he laced his fingers into the young man’s curls to play with them one last time; at least that’s what he told himself he was doing.

......

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Don’t worry, next chapter brings our title character into play.)


	5. Omicron Theta

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes running away from your problems only brings you bigger problems. Wesley is about to learn this the hard way.

The ensign decided she’d had her fill of polite conversation. She knew it was just her imagination, but she felt like everyone was judging her, most of all her friends. To top it all off Data still hadn’t made an appearance by the time she was ready to leave. It seemed unlikely to her that he would skip the dinner since the android was often inclined to spend meals observing people and their dining habits.

Wesley walked back through the Star-base and airlock. Once she was back on the Enterprise, she waited impatiently for the turbolift. She was exhausted; her lack of sleep catching up to her. When the lift finally arrived the doors opened to reveal two people entwined in an elicit example of heavy-petting. The ensign covered her mouth to stifle a laugh as she blushed; embarrassed for catching them in the act. That was before she recognized who they were.

“Data!” she cried in horror as she took an instinctive step back.

“Wesley?” the android blurted, taken by surprise.

“Oh shit,” muttered Grady as he dared to look over at the angry woman.

“What are you doing?!” she yelled, outraged by his betrayal. “I gave you permission to speak with Grady, not fuck him!”

“Technically we weren’t fucking,” Grady said nervously as he was thrown by her emotional outburst.

“Grady, please. Do not speak, it will not help matters,” Data pleaded.

“Yeah, Grady, shut up!” Wesley added with distain.

“Are you going to let her talk to me like this? Talk to you?” the young man inquired, offended.

The android made a pained expression and stepped off of the lift, effectively moving between Grady and his girlfriend. When he moved closer to Wesley, she backed away.

“Don’t touch me! You just lost the right to touch me,” she snapped.

“I am sorry, I did not...” he began to say, but was quickly cut off by her verbal onslaught.

“Didn’t what!? Intend to hurt me? Intend to break my heart? You didn’t mean it, so I should just let it go? Damn it Data, I thought I could trust you, but you’re just like everyone else. I’m only enough until someone else comes along. Or in this case, comes back,” she rambled angrily as she kept her distance.

“Hey, Wesley I think you need to calm down,” Grady interjected from behind Data. “This isn’t completely his fault. Data was upset—because of you by the way—and I was there for him. We didn’t mean to get carried away.”

“Fuck you, Grady Skye,” she grumbled. Then she pushed past both men before either could say anything else, entered the lift and closed the doors.

Wesley needed an escape. Every damn day she had to see Robin with Geordi; now Data had proven he was just as untrustworthy. She couldn’t deal with it. He had been more than her lover, he’d been her saviour. If she couldn’t believe in Data how was she ever going to trust anyone ever again?

She didn’t care that she was only human and no longer special. She went back to her quarters and went straight to the bedroom. Then she dug around in one of her dresser drawers. Her face lit up as she held the oddly shaped communicator in her hand. Surely, the tech alone would be enough to move her through space and time. 

She felt like literally giving her other self the middle finger for discarding her, but decided this would have to suffice.

She clipped the sliver comm badge to her dress and noted that it looked like a piece of jewelry. Then she went to Data’s workstation to open an outside comm link. She focused on her destination and tapped the badge. In moments she was back on Omicron Theta. It was perfect and peaceful; just as she remembered it.

“Make me feel lesser-than; leave me to die alone and unloved as half a person,” she muttered, still in her bad mood despite her successful transport. She made her way through the tall grass and old trees towards the babbling of the stream; her most favourite place in the whole universe.

As she came out between two old twisted tree trunks she stopped. There was someone crouched by the water. At first she didn’t know who it was and she thought about leaving, but then she recognized the man and smiled. It was the younger, more simplistic Data. More importantly, it was the Data who hadn’t betrayed her trust yet. 

He still had his human flesh-toned complexion just as he had the first time she’d met him by accident, however, this time he was wearing clothes. He almost matched her attire in his navy blue pants and grey long-sleeved shirt.

As she approached him she accidentally snapped a twig under her dress boot. The android startled and turned in her direction, standing to his full height. She paused, suddenly feeling unsure.

This version of Data was different. He had two different toned eyes; one blue and one gold. He was clearly upset and had possibly been crying just before she interrupted him. His human looking face was flushed and his eyes were red around the edges—but it was the way he was looking at her that sent a thrill of fear through her.

“What? What are you looking at?” he scowled unkindly. “Come to gawk, huh? Come to marvel at ‘Often Wrong’s’ little freak?”

Wesley took a step back. She wasn’t sure what she’d done to end up here, but she certainly wasn’t about to stick around. Unfortunately, the android was faster than she was and caught her by the arm before she could get away.

“Who are you?” he demanded, his hot breath hitting her cheek as she tried to turn away. “I know every face of every person on this God forsaken colony and I’ve never seen you before.”

“I’m sorry I bothered you, please let me go,” she pleaded on the verge of hysteria.

“Tell me your name,” he growled as he continued to hold her arm.

She tried to look up into his eyes, but fainted before she could try to reason with him. The android caught her dead weight and picked her up easily in his arms. He brought her by the stream and lay her down carefully to be sure he didn’t harm her. He straightened her appearance and made sure that the skirt of her dark blue dress covered her slim form properly. Then he cupped some of the cool water as it ran past and gently poured it over her forehead.

Wesley came-to with a start. It took a moment before she could focus again. When she could she looked up at the android as he sat kneeling beside her; she was confused by his pained expression.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have frightened you like that. Everyone thinks that they can have a piece of me and I’m sick of it,” he confessed with self-pity.

She continued to stare up at him, her fear lessened slightly by his admission of guilt.

“You’re an android?” she asked innocently, playing dumb. She kept her focus on his shirt buttons as to avoid looking into his face. She noticed that he’d miss-buttoned the top one.

He gave her a look of suspicion, not quite believing that she didn’t know who he was. “Yes. My name is Lore.”

Hearing his name made her feel sick. When she tried to speak again she found that her words had left her.

“Are you alright now? I won’t hurt you, I swear,” he told her as though wanting to win her trust.

She nodded slowly. “Lesley; my name is is Lesley,” she said breathlessly when she found her voice again. She knew it would be easier to remember a false name if it was close enough to her own.

He regarded her for a moment and then tenderly swept the now wet hair of her bangs off her forehead. It was unreal to her how considerate he was being.

“Hello, Lesley. I’m not sure where you came from, but you should know that I’m the lesser of two androids,” he said ruefully. “I’m not perfect like my brother. My pathetic, boring, emotionless, brother.”

“What happened to your eyes?” she asked, trying to distract him from his tangent.

“My eyes?” he parroted back and then realized what she meant. “Oh, right. I wanted to prove that I could be just as human as any one of them, but my father interrupted me before I could finish altering both irises. It always amazes me how little he cares about my emotional well-being when he was the fool who gave me my emotions in the first place.”

“Why do you want to look human?” she asked quietly. She was still afraid, but somehow fascinated by this younger, more vulnerable Lore.

“Data gets to look human, for pity’s sake. I mean, come on, his name is Data!” he exclaimed as he sat back on his heels. “He’s so mechanical and robotic, no one would ever mistake him for human.” He paused for a moment and watched her, as though he was trying to decide if she could be trusted. “To be honest, I did it for a woman. What can be more human than that? But I didn’t get to complete the changes—not that it would have mattered. She laughed at me; right in my mismatched face.”

Wesley sat up a little. She could tell that he was genuinely hurt. It was hard to imagine that Lore had been softer and kinder once upon a time, before he was given enough reasons not to be.

“I’m sorry she was so unfeeling. I know what it’s like to hold out hope that someone will feel for you how you feel for them. I know how painful rejection can be when that someone sees you only with pity; or worse as a joke,” she confessed thinking back to the young women she’d tried to ask out back when she was a teenaged boy.

“You do? Someone as beautiful as you knows what it’s like to be rejected?” he shot back skeptically.

“I’m not beautiful,” she assured him as she stood up slowly and awkwardly fidgeted with her dress; the same dress that had earned her condescending looks of disapproval.

“Yes, you are. More than that, you’re human and you’re normal...you can’t possibly understand what it’s like.”

“You’d be surprised how completely not-normal I am,” she told him with self-deprecation.

“How many men have you kissed?” Lore asked with interest as he stood to meet her gaze.

“Excuse me?”

“If you’re so abnormal, so rejected—how many?”

“Technically—a man I wanted to kiss—one,” she informed him firmly.

“One? Oh come on Lee, make it believable,” he retorted, unconvinced.

“If I’m being honest,” she said with a shrug, ignoring his use of her shortened name, “I have kissed a few girls, but even then only one of them didn’t reject right away.”

“You expect me to believe that someone like you has only had two successful romances?”

“The first one ended with her cheating on me and the second I might lose to another man,” she admitted openly. She knew this conversation was insane, but for some reason she couldn’t help herself from confessing her romantic failings to the man who would one day, in a future iteration, cause her irreparable harm.

“That’s really unfair,” said Lore with pity. “If you were my lover I would never mistreat you.”

The young woman swore her heart stopped—literally went into arrest—for a solid minute. It was the sweetest and most horrifying thing he could have said. When he reached to touch her face she flinched, causing him to frown.

“That’s...that’s...um...kind, Lore,” she stuttered, her voice shaking a little as she said his name. “I really need to get going, but I’m glad we got to know each other a little.”

He didn’t look at her as she backed away. He kept his eyes on the stream instead. “Sometimes I think I should just throw myself in the water and be done with it, but I can’t even do that. As an android I would never drown since I don’t need to breath. And it would take years, maybe even decades before my systems would become damaged enough that I would shut down.”

“Lore, I’m sorry I pulled away. It’s not you,” she told him adamantly even though it was his fault that she was afraid. “Someone mistreated me and I have a hard time trusting people sometimes. That’s probably why my boyfriend is thinking of leaving me.”

Lore walked over to her. She did her best to breath evenly and keep from fainting again, but he felt so much bigger than her and so intimidating standing over her. She was convinced more than ever that Grady was right; she was petit—shorter and more diminutive than she had been before she was a cast-off.

The android tentatively touched her cheek. When she didn’t pull away this time he cupped her face with both of his hands and slowly leaned down. As he pressed his lips to hers she thought her heart would explode in her chest. She tried to tell herself that this wasn’t Lore; at least not the Lore she ever knew. Her mind raced as quickly as her heart rate. The android must have misinterpreted her fear as arousal because he deepened the kiss; passionately pulling her into his embrace.

Then a very strange thing happened; she relaxed. Kissing this Lore was like kissing Data. It felt the same in technique and in intent. Maybe they’d been programmed to kiss the same way; hold their partner with the same tenderness. For a brief moment she forgot who he was and let herself be won over by him.

When he finally released her, Lore smiled contentedly. “That was really, really nice,” he sighed.

Her heart broke a little for him and she started to get concerned that she was about to become one more participant in his parade of disappointments. She couldn’t stay and she could never return once she left. Lore had to continue his life journey and evolve into the monster they all knew and feared. It couldn’t be helped, she couldn’t change him.

“Please say something, Lee,” he begged, suddenly feeling insecure about their act of affection.

‘Lee’ couldn’t think of what to say for once. Then she noticed the sun was beginning to set and found her words. “I have to go,” she whispered, almost inaudible.

“Right now?” he asked with distress.

“My heart belongs to another man,” she told him as though they were in some cheesy harlequin romance.

“Forget him. He doesn’t deserve you. I can give you what you need; what you deserve,” Lore told her as he held her firmly by the shoulders. His words were almost as saccharine as hers, but something in the way he was looking at her made her believe him.

“I can’t, please let me go,” she pleaded.

“If I let you go, will you come back again tomorrow?” he bargained.

“You don’t even know me. You won’t like me once you do,” she said trying to push him away.

“That’s uncanny, that’s exactly how people feel about me,” said Lore with a touch of wonder.

“What?” she blurted as she scrunched her face in confusion. “We’re not alike.”

“No? You don’t feel misunderstood, devalued, and overlooked most of the time?” the android inquired frankly.

The woman stared into his mis-matched eyes and hoped her mouth wasn’t hanging open. She refused to let herself bond with him; kissing him was bad enough.

“Lore?! Where are you, boy? It’s getting late,” came a voice—deep and much like Lore’s or Data’s—through the trees, calling the android home.

“That’s the old man. Doesn’t like it if I’m out after dark; like I’m a child or something,” he said with annoyance.

“How old are you?” Wesley heard herself asking.

“Old enough to know that I don’t have to conform to some ludicrous curfew,” he retorted, raising his voice so his father would here him as well.

“I should go,” she said again, “and by the sounds of it, so should you.”

“I’ll look for you tomorrow,” Lore told her as he finally released his hold on her. He didn’t wait for her to argue, but turned and started to make his way back through the small thicket of trees.

Wesley huffed a sigh of frustration and shook her head. She tapped her comm badge to make her return trip back to the Enterprise and back to the future. The device let out a pathetic muted chirp and nothing happened. She frantically hit the thing again to no avail. She couldn’t understand why it wasn’t working, but then remembered what was different this time. 

Other than the fact that she was no longer a Traveller, she’d used the comm on Data’s workstation—a workstation often occupied by a cat. She couldn’t believe her luck. In all of her distraction she forgot that Spot could potentially mess with her settings after she left.

As far as she was concerned she was trapped out of time and space and would have to come up with a plan B. She could either sit here in the woods and wait for night fall when any manner of beast could come out and attack her, or she could pick up Lore’s trail and follow him home.

She didn’t particularly like either of those ideas and decided on her third option; follow Lore long enough to find out how to get into town.

“Hey, Lore? Wait up a minute!”

....


	6. Following Lore Anywhere is Never a Good Idea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The title pretty much says it all.

The android stopped and waited for the outsider to catch up to him.

“What happened to the man who has your heart?”

“My transport fell through. It seems I’m stuck here for a little while,” she told him plainly, trying not to make a big deal of her news.

“I suppose you need a lift into town,” he said with a smirk.

“Yes, well if I can get one,” she replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

He laughed as he picked up his pace. “My parents believe in walking everywhere. They only have a vehicle for supply transport and emergencies. I’m not sure that they’ll see your predicament as an emergency,” he said conversationally. Then he turned back to look at her as she struggled to keep up with him. “I suppose I could take you, but it’s over an hour down the hillside and my father won’t want me out after dark.”

“Maybe I could manage it by myself. There must be a road, or a path?” she said with confidence. 

“Of course, but some parts are quite steep and if you don’t have a proper light source you could literally fall into a ditch,” Lore informed her. “Don’t worry I can sneak you into my room.”

“Your room? Do androids sleep?” she asked full knowing that they didn’t. 

She was falling further behind him and Lore stopped again; not because he couldn’t hear her to continue their conversation, but he thought she might be more inclined to trust him if he showed her some common curtesy.

“No, although I do have a very comfortable hammock for when I feel like thinking off my feet,” he told her when she’d caught up to him. “It might even be big enough for both of us,” he added with a wink.

“I would’ve thought you’d be too heavy to lie in a hammock,” she said offhandedly, without thinking.

“Why would you assume that?” Lore queried as he slowed his pace, suddenly suspicious.

“Because you’re an android,” she retorted as though anyone would think the same thing.

“I see your point. It’s been anchored into the walls of the cave and I haven’t had any trouble with it.”

“Cave?” she echoed. Then she remembered that Dr. Noonien Soong had his secret lab hidden away inside a cave. She felt a little ridiculous when she realized that Lore wasn’t just sneaking her into his home, but into his father’s secret sanctum as well. She was liking this idea less and less the closer they got.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s more homey than it sounds,” the android reassured her.

They finally came into a bit of a clearing and sure enough there was an exposed rock face. Lore comically put a finger to his lips to signal for her to keep quiet. Then he hit a hidden latch and an opening revealed itself. He put a hand up and asked her to wait while he ducked inside. After a moment he came back out again.

“It looks like ma and pa are filling their faces,” he said with an exaggerated twang. “Come on, I’ll sneak you past them.”

She gave him an odd look. While she was quite aware of Lore’s playful nature from past experience, she’d never witnessed it without a cruel edge. Right now he was being downright normal and it made her uneasy.

“I feel like a teenager breaking the rules,” she muttered nervously.

It was his turn to give her a strange look, but she wasn’t sure what it meant.

“Lore is that you?” called a woman’s voice with a hint of an Irish accent.

“Get in, quickly,” he instructed as they arrived at his room. He tucked her under his workstation against the side wall and then turned just in time to find his mother standing in his room.

“Lore, why are you hiding in here? You know your father and I appreciate it when you come and speak to us upon your arrival,” she reminded him sternly.

“You were eating dinner. I didn’t want to interrupt you unnecessarily,” he replied softly.

“That’s sweet, but we like knowing that you’re home safe and sound.”

“I know, mother.”

Wesley held a hand over her mouth; she couldn’t get over how sincere Lore sounded when talking to his ‘mother’. She’d never met Juliana before, having only heard her name mentioned once or twice by Geordi and Data. She’d forgotten about the age gap between the scientist and his wife and was a bit surprised by how young she looked. She couldn’t have been older than her early thirties.

“Data is already tucked away for the night,” Juliana told Lore as she straightened the collar on his shirt. “Do you want to say goodnight to your father, or shall I do it for you? I know the two of you weren’t getting along earlier.”

“Maybe you can do it for me,” her android son said with a frown as he instinctively touched his left temple beside the golden eye. “I know he’s trying to protect me, but I should get to decide how I look.”

“I agree. Maybe we can talk about it some more in the morning. You know he’s always more reasonable after a good night’s sleep.”

“We can only hope,” Lore added with a grin.

Then Juliana was gone. Lore tapped the panel just beside the door, presumably to lock it.

“Okay, Lee, it’s safe to come out now,” he whispered, unnecessarily.

Wesley crawled out from her hiding place and bumped her head as she did so. Lore made a pained face in sympathy and helped her to sit in the sturdy hammock. 

“That looked like it hurt,” he said softly as he touched the top of her forehead. She did her best no to flinch this time.

“I’ll live,” she grumbled. Then her stomach grumbled.

“Will you live? Sounds like you’re starving to me,” he said with a chuckle. “Pitfalls of organic life forms. Always gotta know where your next meal is coming from.”

“I’m fine,” she insisted, followed by another rude rumble.

“I don’t think your body got the message,” he joked.

It was getting harder and harder to remember that this charming android would one day commit genocide. It was a sobering thought; a thought that suddenly made her forget how hungry she was.

“Honestly, it’s fine,” she said again waving off his concerns.

He crouched down and lay his head in her lap. “I know this is going to sound a little crazy, but I’m so happy you’re here. I’ve never snuck anyone into my room before, let alone a beautiful woman. It’s like a wonderful little secret,” he thrilled and then looked up at her with his mis-matched eyes again. “Can I keep you?”

“I hope you’re just playing,” she said a little uneasy. “You know I can’t stay.”

Lore stood again and cupped her face. He reminded her so much of Data when she’d changed his complexion, it was uncanny. 

“How’s your head?” he whispered, avoiding what she’d just said.

“It’s better I think,” she told him as her heart raced, fearful.

“May I kiss you again?” he asked politely as though she could say no.

“Lore, I don’t think it’s a good idea,” she replied with a slight tremble to her voice.

The android released his hold and turned away; violently kicking his workstation chair as he whirled around. The thing spun and rolled away, hitting the opposite wall.

“What did that sick fuck do to you? You’re terrified,” he blurted, completely out of sorts.

“What?” she asked at a loss.

“You said someone mistreated you. I can tell it was bad, it’s written all over your lovely face,” he said with distress.

Wesley swallowed hard. She’d forgotten already that she’d already told him that. It was like a cosmic joke; the synthetic man who’d violated her becoming angry in her defence.

“Lore, it’s fine. I’m fine. I merely meant that I’m committed to someone else. I trust you; I know you won’t hurt me,” she rambled in an attempt to soothe him. Too bad it wasn’t helping her any.

“You trust me?” he asked innocently as he fell back to his knees in front of her as though in worship. “I really want you to,” he added as he took both of her hands in his own and held them tightly.

The young woman felt nauseated. He was clearly obsessed with her after knowing her for less than an hour. No wonder the Lore she knew had snapped; he’d been obsessed for almost eight years before he had the chance to be alone with at her—him.

“I do,” she managed to say after collecting herself. “I’m actually really tired. Do you think it would be okay if I go to sleep now?”

“Of course. I’ll just be at my console. You go ahead and rest,” he said with affection.

Lore moved away from her and rolled his chair back into place before sitting in it. Wesley put her legs up and lay back into the solid fabric of the hammock. She was just about to close her eyes when she heard him return to her side.

He was holding a blanket, she wasn’t sure where it had come from. He threw it over her and smiled.

“Can’t have you catching a chill,” he said softly and then let her be. “Goodnight, Lee,” he said over his shoulder.

“Goodnight, Lore,” she replied as she tried not to cry. 

Wesley was beginning to regret letting him talk her into following him. She felt as though she would have been better off taking her chances in the wilderness, or stumbling into town in the dark. Now she was his prisoner and he could probably do whatever he wanted to her. She just hoped that he kept his word and let her sleep.

......

The next morning, Dr. Soong and his wife went for supplies with Data in tow. Lore made Wesley breakfast and brought it into his room for her. She tried to pretend she wasn’t still afraid of him, but was worried he would catch on. She was sure that the android had noticed that she’d barely slept at all, but he never mentioned it.

“We’re alone. The family’s gone to town,” he informed her with childish delight, his mismatched eyes sparkling. “We can do anything you want.”

Wesley noted that the android’s creator still hadn’t fixed Lore’s appearance. Then she took a few bites of her eggs and frowned. She wasn’t used to to real animal protein and she tried not think about it too much. 

“Do you have a communications relay up here?” she asked after managing to swallow her food.

“It’s up the way a bit. Reception is better the higher up you go and Father is so paranoid about people finding this place,” Lore explained.

“Oh right. I was just hoping to get a message out,” she told him as nonchalantly as possible.

“Sure, I can take you when you’re done eating if you want,” he said with a touch of disappointment. “You’re not a spy, right? Here to steal the Soong secrets of the positronic matrix?” 

He narrowed his eyes at her and sounded so serious in his delivery that she wasn’t sure if he was joking; but then he cracked a smile and hit the desktop playfully with his hand.

“Just kidding, Lee. I know you’re not,” he said with a laugh.

“You keep calling me ‘Lee’, but you never asked if I liked it or not,” she observed.

“Don’t you? Most humans are very quick to correct me if I do, or say something they don’t like,” he informed her with a shrug.

“I guess I don’t mind it. It’s just that no one’s ever called me that before.”

“What do they call you, Les?” he suggested with a shudder. “No, it doesn’t suit you.”

“Mostly people call me Lesley,” she fibbed; it was basically true.

“But you’re okay if I continue to call you Lee, right? It’s like our little nickname.”

“Sure, I think that’s alright,” she conceded. Then Wesley did a quick mental check and made sure that she’d never heard Lore utter the nickname ‘Lee’ in reference to herself/himself in the past—Lore’s future. She was fairly certain he hadn’t.

After a while they made the trek up the steep terrain to an outpost with a comm tower. She watched and waited patiently while the android entered the access code. He seemed to be taking his time.

“So how quickly do you expect to get a transport off-world?” Lore asked with interest. “It would be nice if we could continue getting to know each other better.”

“I think it might be pretty quick,” she told him honestly and hoped that he wouldn’t change his mind about helping her.

“Oh,” he said with a frown. “Maybe you can come back and visit. I mean you must have come here for some other reason than to sit by the water.”

“Maybe I can,” she replied vaguely. Little did he know that that was exactly why she’d come there and he’d ruined it for her.

Lore moved aside to allow her access to the console so that she could send her message. She tapped her badge, still fastened to her dress, and hoped that this time it would work.

As Lore looked away, Wesley began to let her fingers dance over the comm as she opened a channel. The android was distracted for a moment as he looked down the steep terrain at his homestead. He could see that his family had returned already from their morning excursion. When he turned back to check on his new friend’s progress he could tell that she was frustrated.

“What’s wrong? Message not going through?” he asked with concern as he came back to stand beside her.

“I don’t understand why it’s not working,” she muttered. If she could travel to Omicron Theta why couldn’t she get back again? “I’ll try something else,” she said as she changed tactics. Having no other options available she settled on sending out an SOS to the Traveler.

“Maybe your friends are out of range. This relay is fairly stunted. Only my father knows the code to boost it,” Lore explained.

Wesley closed her eyes and tried not fall apart. If she hadn’t been made up of leftovers she could have boosted the signal herself, maybe even gotten home already.

“Hey, Lee, don’t worry about it. If you’re stuck here I promise to introduce you to everyone. You won’t have to keep hiding in my room at night,” he said softly in an attempt to make her feel better. “Not unless you want to that is.”

She couldn’t help but smile at his weird sense of humour. Besides, if she didn’t smile she would most definitely cry. She hadn’t met Dr. Soong yet, but Juliana seemed to be a nice person. So even though she really had no business interacting with any of them she let Lore lead her back down to meet his family.

.....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading so far. Let me know what you think.


	7. All In the Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There’s a lot of focus on Dr. Soong in this one.

“Father, Lore has returned and has brought someone with him,” said Data as he observed his brother with a young woman he didn’t recognize. 

Wesley was caught a little off guard when she saw Data standing by his ‘parents’. This version of him was human in appearance and wearing an outfit similar to his brother consisting of well fitted dark trousers and a loser, lighter shirt. She was also surprised to see that he looked younger than Lore somehow.

Dr. Soong, a man in his early sixties, turned his attention to them. He had been unloading supplies from the back of a cart that had been rigged to a small all-terrain vehicle. He shook his head in disapproval and came to stand next to Data. “Why don’t you take over helping your mother?”

Data nodded eagerly, but paused before doing as he was asked. “Do I not get to meet my brother’s new friend?”

“Maybe later. For now be a good boy and do as you’re told,” Soong told him firmly. Data nodded again and went to work taking supplies into their home.

“Father, I want you to meet Lee,” Lore said brightly as he introduced the young woman, smile broad across his face.

Dr. Soong looked into his son’s two toned eyes and was reminded of their argument from the previous day.

“So, this is the girl you were so keen to impress,” his father huffed, unimpressed. His voice was deeper than his son’s and had a gravelled texture possibly acquired with age.

“No, she isn’t. Why do you always feel the need to embarrass me?” Lore shot back with annoyance.

“We only met yesterday,” Wesley informed the scientist calmly and offered her hand. She couldn’t get over how much his disapproving attitude reminded her of Lore—when he wasn’t being homicidal.

The man blatantly stared at her before taking the proffered hand. As he shook it, he narrowed his eyes. 

“Has anyone ever told you that you shake hands like a man?” he said rudely. 

Wesley’s face suddenly paled. The scientist’s comment made her feel like a fraud.

“Father!” Lore cried as he snatched his friend out of the man’s reach. “Don’t listen to him. He’s old and senile.” This was a comment the android made often to insult his father, though he was neither of those things.

“I just meant that she’s got a good, strong handshake,” Soong commented as though to appease his son.

Juliana came back outside and inserted herself between her husband and android son. Wesley noted how her wavy, dark auburn hair caught the sunlight.

“Why didn’t anyone tell me we had a visitor? My name’s Juliana Soong—in case my son neglected to tell you—and this is my husband Dr. Noonien Soong.”

“Don’t bother with your introductions, my love—she’s not staying,” grumbled her husband.

“Yes, she is,” Lore corrected him. “Lee’s stranded and I told her she could stay here with us until she hears back from her friends.”

“Oh really? ‘Lee’ is it?” Soong questions with a snort of derision. “Don’t you think you’d be better off in town?”

“She doesn’t know anyone in town,” Lore blurted and then regretted it, knowing that it was the wrong thing to say.

“Oh no? So this attractive young person shows up out of nowhere on our remote colony, to our fairly unknown compound and she doesn’t have a logical, or legitimate reason to be here?”

“Noonien,” Juliana warned.

“My brother,” Wesley offered abruptly. “I was looking for my brother. He said he was visiting Omicron Theta and spoke with a robotic man. He was really quite specific.”

“Your brother?” Soong repeated suspiciously. He didn’t like the sound of some stranger going around telling people about meeting one of his androids. At least this stranger thought they were robots. “Lore did you speak to another young person recently that you failed to mention?”

“No one that I didn’t know already,” Lore told his father, truthfully for once.

“Maybe my brother spoke to your brother?” she said with a shrug, hoping she didn’t sound like a complete idiot.

As if on cue Data came outside again, but continued with his work. Juliana called him over to join them. He hesitated until Dr. Soong told him he could take a break.

Wesley tried not to lose her cool as she stood between both androids. Since she’d had very little sleep and not much to eat over the last two days, she was afraid she might become hysterical. Especially now that Data was so physically close to her, even if he was decades away from becoming her Data.

“Data, did you speak with a young man somewhere close-by recently? Someone who may not have been a colonist?” his mother asked. “This young lady is looking for her brother.”

The younger android regarded the young woman and then looked like he was far away as he recalled the information. Wesley recognized the all too familiar facial expression .

“Yes, Mother,” he began. “There was a young man of similar features to this girl. We spoke briefly by the water through the trees. It was three months, six days, one hour and thirty-two minutes ago.”

Lore looked from his brother to his friend and wasn’t sure what to make of this new information. She hadn’t told him anything about her search for brother and he started to wonder what else she was keeping from him.

“He said his name was Wesley, however I did not get his surname,” Data continued. “I have not encountered him since and he did admit to not being a colonist.”

“Your brother’s name is Wesley?” Lore asked with a chuckle. “Wesley and Lesley?”

“We’re twins; my parents are weird,” she explained with another white lie.

“My brother and I could also be considered to be twins,” offered Data. “Although we were not ‘born’ at the same time we were created in the same likeness.”

“It’s quite unlikely that Lesley looks just like her brother,” Juliana told Data kindly.

“On the contrary. Other than the fact that she is female, her facial structure and features are remarkably like her brother’s,” Data added with a tilt to his head.

“That’s odd,” Lore commented as he watched Wesley for any kind of reaction to what his brother was blathering about.

“Yes, it is. People used to say how odd it was,” Wesley said nervously. “Before we hit puberty we used to be able to switch places and trick people.” She kept telling herself to stop talking, but somehow her lips kept moving and words kept coming out of her mouth. “My parents, our teachers...we even fooled our ship’s captain once; boy was he angry.”

“Sounds like you and your brother were trouble makers,” Soong grumbled.

“Oh Noonien, they were children,” Juliana told him defensively. Then she turned her attention back to the younger woman. “It’s too bad that you missed your brother by such a long period of time. I wonder where he’s gotten to?”

“You and me both,” Wesley said offhandedly with a awkward smile. She felt like she could really use her other half right about now.

“Is that who you messaged?” Lore asked with distrust. By now he was sure that she was lying about something. He was designed to pick up on the most subtle changes in humanoid behaviour making him an effective lie detector. He just wasn’t sure why Data hadn’t made any comment already since he would be first to blatantly call her out for any deceptive tells.

“Well, yes. Not the first time, but the second time when I couldn’t reach my friends. I thought I’d take a chance that he was still somewhere within range. It was worth a shot anyways,” she rambled as she could tell he was beginning to doubt her.

“Come Data, we need to finish unloading the supplies. The day is heating up and I don’t want the food to spoil,” said Soong as he began to lead the younger android away.

“Don’t worry about my husband,” Juliana told Wesley with a smile. “Why don’t you come inside and sit down where it’s cooler. You look tired.”

Wesley looked to Lore who was avoiding her gaze. She knew she shouldn’t care if she offended him; she should actually be glad that maybe he was starting to care less about her. Somehow it still made her feel bad. Maybe it was because he looked so much like Data—the one she knew who was capable of emotional expression.

“Thank you, Juliana,” she said with gratitude. She knew that Juliana was technically only several years older than her, but there was something so mature and reassuring about her presence. She was so very tired and maybe now she could sleep somewhere decent, away from Lore’s intimidating presence.

When Wesley woke from her nap on the cot in one of the lesser used side rooms, she was a little disoriented. There were several seconds where she forgot where and when she was. Once she was more awake she wandered through the main living space to see if she could find anyone. It was quiet and no one was around as far as she could tell.

There was a kitchen with a large table close to the room she’d been sleeping in and a pantry of sorts off of that. She guessed that they didn’t use a replicator often since so much of their food had been brought in and stored. Past the kitchen was a makeshift seating area. There were a few chairs and an old fabric covered couch. On the back wall we’re several bookshelves filled with actual books. Even though she’d gone back in time a few decades it was still odd to see so many books.

She was beginning to wonder where everyone was and where exactly the lab was when suddenly another secret door slid open in the back wall close to the small hallway leading to the bedrooms. Dr. Soong came out, muttering something to himself. He seemed to be caught up in his own world. In fact, he just about walked into the young woman before he realized she was standing there watching him.

“Dear gods! What are you doing, startling me like that?!” he yelled with indignation.

“I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t realize you hadn’t seen me,” she muttered feeling just as startled as he was.

“Well, pay attention. I’m sure you must have a brain in that pretty little head of yours,” he growled crossly.

Wesley wasn’t soft. She was used to being berated and told what to do. She was a Starfleet officer for pity’s sake. But when Dr. Soong yelled at her the second time, she folded into tears. 

The scientist looked horrified. His eyes darted around in search of his wife, but then he remembered that she was still in the lab on the other side of the stone wall. Wesley hid her face in her hands, ashamed of her pathetic emotional state. Dr. Soong swallowed his pride and put a tentative arm around her as he guided her to the old couch.

“Now, there’s no need for that,” he told her softly as got her to sit down. “I know you’re far from home and surrounded by strangers, but you don’t need to cry.”

“I’m sorry. I’m not usually like this. I was a little afraid last night and I didn’t sleep very well. Then when I woke up just now I forgot where I was,” she rambled as she tried to pull herself back together.

“Last night? Why were you afraid?” the man asked not understanding what she meant.

“Your son snuck me into his room so I wouldn’t have to be alone all night, but I don’t know him very well and I was a little afraid to fall asleep,” she confessed.

“Lore? You were in Lore’s room?” Soong marvelled with a smirk. “That boy is just full of surprises these days.” The man shook his head and sat next to his uninvited guest. “Lee, you don’t have to afraid of my boys. They may look like men and Lore might even sound like one, but they’re harmless.”

“Harmless?” she repeated as she wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand.

“They’ve been programmed not to hurt any living being. Plus, no sex drive,” he confided in hushed tones. “Sure they have all the parts, but the colonists would be after me with pitchforks if I gave them libidos.”

Wesley gaped at him for a moment. “You’re joking? Lore was very affectionate yesterday and wanted to kiss me,” she explained in disbelief.

“Oh well, affection and romance are very different from sex and physical pleasure,” he told her with a shrug. “After all, what is humanity without the need to love, or to be loved in return?”

“That’s very interesting,” she said reflectively after listening to the man’s philosophical revelation. “Do you ever intend to give them, you know, libidos?”

“No, of course not. I’ve given them the basic knowledge of how sex works, in case they decide to take a mate one day. But there’s some danger in granting an android a desire for sex for pleasure alone.”

“So Lore is harmless?” she asked skeptically. From her experience, Lore had never been harmless. A part of her wanted to warn the man of the evils his son would do, but knew it wasn’t her place to tell him since it could damage the timeline.

“Completely. He’s like a fourteen year old boy who’s just figuring out that girls don’t have cooties,” he assured her with a laugh. “He doesn’t get a lot of interaction with young people, so he probably came on a little strong.”

“He did, a little, but it wasn’t that bad,” she commented with a grin. She was starting to feel a little better about things and more surprisingly, she was starting to like Dr. Soong. He wasn’t as ornery as he appeared.

“Good, well I’m glad we got that sorted,” he said and looked as though he would leave, but he hesitated and met her eye again. “You know, Lee, you’re one of the first people to meet my boys and accept them so quickly as people.”

“That’s because they are people,” she told him, not really understanding how anyone could doubt that they were. She remembered feeling the same way when she met Data for the first time on the holodeck on the Enterprise at fourteen. The fact that he was an android made him all the more fascinating, but she never felt like he wasn’t a person.

The man gave her a fatherly smile and patted her hand. “Now just watch yourself around here; it’s a deceptively small space,” he said, reminding her to look where she was going.

“Yes, sir. I’ll do better to pay attention.”

The scientist stood, but hesitated again. “Since it looks like you’ll be staying another night, it would make me feel better to know your surname.”

“Oh, it’s Howard,” she told him without hesitation, using her own mother’s maiden name. It was common enough and she hoped it do the trick. She certainly couldn’t use Crusher.

“Welcome to our odd little abode, Lee Howard,” Soong said warmly.

.....


	8. Harmless?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lore let’s his darker side show, but will he regret it? Wesley has a heart to with Juliana.

In the evening, the air cooled as the sun travelled lower in the sky. Wesley decided to take the trek back up to the relay outpost to see if any messages had come through. She was halfway up the incline when she heard someone behind her.

The young woman turned around and fixed her dark eyes on a pair of golden ones. In fact, the android’s entire complexion was gold. 

“I didn’t mean to startle you,” Lore said with a frown. “I guess I was bit embarrassed for you to see me again after my father rectified my impromptu change in appearance.” He held out his arms theatrically as though showing her his true self.

“This is what you normally look like?” she asked hesitantly, although she already knew that it was.

“Yeah, well it ensures the ‘norms’ don’t mistake me for one of them,” he told her with a sharp, bitter edge. 

“I think it suits you,” she said kindly with a smile.

He gave her a dubious look and continued to frown. “If you like it so much, why don’t you come closer?”

Wesley laughed awkwardly and decided to show him that it didn’t bother her. After all she may stuck there for a while yet. Slowly she came back down towards Lore. She faltered on her last step, the gravel-like top soil slipping under her foot, and she fell into the android’s arms.

“Sorry,” she winced as she gazed up into his face, blushing a little.

Lore didn’t know what to make of her reaction. He wasn’t sure if she was embarrassed for slipping, or nervous of their physical contact. He quickly let her go as she righted herself and turned away from her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked with concern, confused by his sudden retreat.

“You, Lee. You’re what’s wrong,” he replied, almost hurt.

“I don’t understand?”

“You’re this beautiful, mysterious thing,” he told her as he looked back at her over his shoulder. “One minute I want to hold onto you forever and the next I feel like I can’t trust you and I can’t look at you.”

She wasn’t sure why he telling her this, or what exactly she was doing to make him feel that way. All she knew was that she was a few meters away from the relay and going home was more important than stroking his ego.

“Lore, we barely know each other. It’s natural to feel conflicted about new people and their motivations; especially when you don’t meet many,” she offered casually.

“So now I’m some poor little unsocialized android,” he shot back offended.

“Oh, grow up,” she snapped back, losing her patience with him. “I don’t have time for your moody, childish antics.”

Then she took off up the steep hill again without looking back. In the end it would make little difference how she treated him. She was still going to disappear on him and he was still going to become a murderer. 

Wesley tapped the console on the relay. She thanked her eidetic memory that she’d seen Lore enter the access code on their previous excursion. The new message icon lit up, but before she could access it Lore wrenched her away. He took her by the arm and forcefully pulled her from her task; the momentum caused her to lose her balance and tumble to the ground.

Lore leered at her, tilting his head to one side. It was then that Wesley realized that her skirt had rolled up in her fall and her underwear was exposed. She felt a thrill of fear and panic go through her as she frantically tried to cover herself. She didn’t care what Dr. Soong had said about him being harmless. The look in his eyes was predatory and she decided in that moment that she was never going to wear another dress as long as she lived.

“Why did you do that?” she asked shrilly as she pulled her legs to her as she sat on the ground.

“You hurt me; I guess I wanted to return the favour,” he said plainly, without remorse.

Wesley noticed that her right elbow was bleeding from where she’d landed on it. “I thought you couldn’t hurt a living being?” she cried, voice trembling.

“Technically the ground hurt you,” he said casually.

“You’re mad,” she said with a quick shake of her head.

Her words hit him with such violence that he had to react. He threw himself down and over top of her; caging her in.

“Mad, am I?” he growled into her ear. “You’d be mad too if everyone you met treated you like you were a monster.”

Wesley suddenly remembered Deanna saying something about whether making a fundamental change to her physical self affected her psychologically. Maybe it was the same with Lore. Maybe he felt less of his humanity when he outwardly looked like less human. He was giving himself permission to indulge in something other than what would be considered acceptable behaviour.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about! I was treating you like a person!” she yelled in her own defence. “If I thought you were a monster I would have been sweet and false to appease you!”

Lore faltered in his rage as he took in what she was saying. He relaxed in his intensity, but remained on top of her. 

“You were being mean to me because you were treating me like a person?” he asked slowly, still not completely convinced.

“Yes. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings. I had no idea you’d take it so badly. I guess I need to be more sensitive,” she rambled, her fear still present but not as overwhelming.

The android got off of her and stood up. He brushed the dirt and dust from his pant legs before reaching a hand out to help her off the ground. She reluctantly took it and he pulled her up in one fluid motion. Lore grimaced at the scrape on her elbow.

“We should get my mother to have a look at your injury,” he said calmly as though he hadn’t been ready to rip her to shreds mere moments ago.

“I need to get that message first,” she said sheepishly as she motioned to the relay.

Lore turned around and hit the icon to display the message. He furrowed his brow as he read it off to her. “‘You’ve made your bed. Lie in it. Love Q.’ Who’s Q? Is that one of your friends?”

The young woman went pale and then green. She ran over to a patch of brush just in time for her stomach to empty itself. The android made a face of disgust as she retched again.

“Organics,” Lore sighed with a shake of his head.

.....

That night Wesley didn’t feel much like eating. She’d been in this place where she didn’t belong for just over twenty-four hours and there was no way to get home. Q had made sure of it. Maybe this was his solution to ending her existence. A few more days of little sleep, very little to eat and too much Lore was going to drive her to kill herself—that was if Lore didn’t kill her first.

Dr. Soong was in his lab with Data, tucking him in for the night. He was still in the earlier stages of his development and needed routine downtime, much like Lal had. Wesley longed to go to him and tell him about their life together and beg for his help. But with her luck she’d send him into a cascade failure, inadvertently removing Data from the rest of history. So she kept her distress to herself and continued to let herself be called ‘Lee’.

Juliana approached the young woman where she sat curled up on the old couch. She had a cup of tea in one hand and cool, damp cloth in the other.

“It will be alright in the end,” the older woman soothed. She handed Wesley the tea and put the cloth on the back of her neck. Juliana checked the bandaged on her elbow before she noticed the girl was staring at her red hair.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” Wesley explained. “My mom has red hair. I miss her.”

“You poor girl, I’m sure she misses you too,” Juliana said sadly as she ran her fingers through the young woman’s short, dark locks.

“I think she misses my brother more,” she confessed tearfully. In her heart she knew her mother wanted her son back and would never fully understand who or what she was now.

“Oh now, that can’t be true,” the older woman chided. She took the cup out of Wesley’s hands and put it on the table beside them. Then she put her arms around the girl and held her affectionately. “We mothers have a grand capacity to love all of our children.”

“Even when they do terrible, selfish things?” she muttered into the other woman’s red hair.

“Even then,” Juliana assured her as she watched Lore watching them from across the room. She was well aware of her son’s need to act out. Right now he looked guilty as sin and almost as jealous as he pouted in the low light.

Juliana pulled away and searched the girl’s face. Wesley tried to smile, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Thank you for being so kind to me,” the girl said quietly.

“I’ve learned that kindness will get you more in this world than cruelty,” the older woman said wisely, knowing that her son was listening. Lore made a face, but didn’t move from his corner.

“It certainly does,” Wesley noted as she took up her tea again and had a sip. It was minty and pleasant. She put a hand to her side and grimaced a little.

“Cramps?” Juliana asked with a chuckle.

“Probably from when I was sick,” she said after consideration. “Though it is a little sharp.”

“Maybe you’re ovulating,” the older woman said with a shrug.

“Excuse me?” Wes shot back with mild distress, knowing that Lore was somewhere close by listening to them talk.

“Young girls like you grow up with modern conveniences. You’ve probably never even gone through a natural cycle before,” the scientist said quite frankly. “You end up on an adventure, or out in a remote place such as this and forget about your usual upkeep and your clock catches up with you.”

“My clock?” the younger woman replied after taking another sip of tea.

“Your biological clock,” Juliana added with a grin.

“Do you ever think you’ll have biological children with Dr. Soong?” she asked out of curiosity feeling more as though she was chatting with Robin than her Data’s mother.

The red-head looked over at her spying android son and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “No dear, we’re very happy with the family we have. Dr. Soong’s work is important and his sons need near-most all of his attention.”

“But you’re still young,” commented Wesley. “You still have time if you wanted to.”

“It’s not part of our plan. We decided that a long time ago,” she told her with a sad sort of smile.

“And what about your sons?” the brunette found herself asking. “What opportunities do they have in their future for families of their own?”

“Noonien hopes to create additional, stable, functional androids. I suppose if that wasn’t enough they could take humanoid partners and have more traditional families.”

“Not that we can reproduce,” Lore spat from the other side of the room.

“No, we haven’t found an acceptable solution to that yet,” Juliana told him with a glare.

“Acceptable solution?” Lore repeated with a snort of derision. “Did she tell you that she and the old man have kept us castrated?” he added as he rose and walked over to the hall leading to his bedroom. “I couldn’t have sex if I wanted to, what should he care if I’m sterile, or not.”

“Lore, what have I told you about being so lurid?” his mother scolded.

“Lee doesn’t care. She’s done pretending to be nice to me, why should I be nice to her?,” Lore shot back as he leaned on the wall.

“I’d get angry, but I feel too sorry for you,” Wesley muttered as she refused to look at him.

“Sorry for me? Don’t feel sorry for me,” he said sharply. “Feel sorry for yourself. You’re the one who stranded herself in the middle of nowhere. You’re the one who’s been abandoned.”

Wesley dared to look over to show him how hurt and alone she felt. Lore dropped his cruel facade for the briefest of moments when her sad eyes made his heart ache and he couldn’t deny how he wanted to be the one to comfort her. But then he shook off his remorse and darted down the hall and into his room before she could try to change his mind.

“I know it doesn’t look like it right now, but he’s actually quite taken with you,” Juliana told her after her son was gone from the room.

“I know, but I don’t see how that’s a good thing. He can really be quite frightening,” she confessed.

“He tries so hard to get along, but finds it frustrating to constantly demean himself so that the colonists will accept him. They mind Data less because he is so obviously robotic and unemotional. Lore can be so human at times that they find him off-putting.”

Wesley marvelled at how strange it was to hear that Lore, being so much closer to humanity, was the one being rejected. Data would struggle for the opposite reason his whole life.

“I was thinking that maybe I’d go into town tomorrow. I’ve taken advantage of your hospitality for long enough,” she told the older woman.

“I know Lore will be sad to see you go, but it makes sense that you should want to be on your way,” replied Juliana with a touch of regret to see her new friend leave so soon. “If you can’t find your way off of Omicron Theta anytime soon, we could always use another worker bee in the lab. I know it’s not ideal and you would have to interact with Lore, but I would have you help me Data as much as possible,” she offered after a moment.

“I’ll keep that in mind, thank you.”

....


	9. Unlikely Bedfellows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a strange second night, Wesley tries to make an escape. Sadly she doesn’t get very far.

Lore could hear his parents talking about their visitor from the next room. He couldn’t help but feel conflicted over the news that she would be leaving in the morning. He caught his reflection in his workstation monitor, golden skin casting a reflection, and cursed his inadequate android body. If he was meant to be superior to humans why did he always feel lesser than?

Wesley was asleep on the cot in the room off of the kitchen. She finally fell into a deep sleep when she felt that Lore was too disinterested in her to bother her again. It also helped that Juliana had given her something for her nausea and discomfort. 

Sadly, she was wrong about Lore. The android soundlessly came to stand over her sleeping form and watched her in her slumber like a creep. The beauty of her dark lashes against her pale cheeks moved him. He wanted to touch her, but knew that he shouldn’t. So he decided to try touching himself instead.

Although inexperienced in the act of sex itself, he knew just about everything there was to know about how to perform it and what physical stimulation would create the most pleasure. He put his hand down his trousers and started to grope his genitals, but nothing happened. Nothing ever did.

The dark haired girl sighed in her sleep and turned over. She opened her eyes slightly and smiled sweetly up at him in her half-dream state. Luckily, she didn’t notice where his hand was, or what it was doing. Lore froze in place, afraid to move in case she woke up and would start screaming at him.

“Are you coming to bed, or are you just going to stand there like a dork?” She murmured into her pillow.

“Did you just invite me to bed?” Lore whispered back in disbelief as he straightened his posture and wiped his hand on his leg.

She didn’t say anything else, so he crouched down next to her and very gently touched her hair. She smiled again in her sleep and hummed a pleasant sound. 

“You’re driving me mad, but I guess you already knew that,” he whispered with longing as he continued to stroke her short locks. “You can’t know what it’s like to have a useless dick,” he added with a grumble, no longer concerned that he would wake her.

“I hated my useless dick,” she muttered in her sleep.

“You what?” Lore questioned, suddenly bemused by her utterances. “You never had a dick.”

“I wish I never did,” she whimpered with slight distress. Lore couldn’t help but chuckle at her absurd admissions. Then he stopped laughing as she continued to look distraught, her features creasing with worry despite being asleep.

“Who hurt you, beautiful girl?” he asked softly as he tried to quiet her again.

“Lore,” she breathed almost inaudible.

The android sat back on his heels. Surely, she was just saying his name in recognition of his voice. “I’m here,” he told her, which only made she whimpered again.

“No,” she said, as she started to stir.

“Lee, it’s okay,” he told her a little louder this time. Her eyes shot open and she locked eyes with him.

She was obvious still half-asleep and disoriented. She threw her arms around him and sobbed into his neck.

“You’re here. I was so scared.” Was all that he could make out as she held onto him tightly.

“It’s okay, no one is going to hurt you,” he told her as crawled under the covers with her. 

She pressed her body to his side and continued to hide her face the crook of his neck. She was shaking, but starting to calm down. Slowly, her breathing became rhythmic again and she drifted back into a deeper sleep. He knew this was a bad idea, but in his defence it had been her bad idea.

So, Lore shifted a little and surrendered to the fact that he was now her body pillow. It was either that or wake the poor girl and upset her again. He smiled at the ceiling, thinking about her bizarre comment again. “What an odd duck you are to dream of loathing an appendage you never had.” 

Then he remembered that she’d admitted to being lovers with a woman, and kissing girls. But the fact that his mother believed she was ovulating spoke more to her being gender fluid than once being a man. Modern medical science was good, but it wasn’t that good—to his knowledge.

Wesley slowly opened her eyes. It was strange waking up in a cave where the only sunlight was simulated, although she figured, it wasn’t that different from waking up on a starships save the lack of windows.

It was only after a few moments that she began to realize she wasn’t alone and that she was in fact cuddled up to someone. She nervously looked up into the synthetic man’s face and believed she was home with Data for half of a second; but she knew better. 

Lore didn’t move. He watched her in silence. Wesley thought that maybe he’d malfunctioned, or run out of power if that was possible. She was so sure that he’d be ready with a quip, or cruel remark that his perpetual mutism made her uneasy.

She pulled away and sat up. She put her hands to her face and she tell that she’d been crying at some point. She looked down at her odd bedmate, but he said nothing. She turned away, still sitting in the edge of the cot when she felt his hand touch her arm. He didn’t grab, or pull her as she would have expected from past behaviour; instead he lightly ran his hand up and down her arm, careful not to brush against her bandage.

“I did that to you,” he whispered, “and now you’re leaving me.”

She glanced back at him again and saw how genuinely sad he looked.

“Lore, you don’t actually like me. I was just a distraction,” she told him, her voice horse. “I don’t know how you ended up holding me last night, but it was a mistake.”

“What if I’m falling in love with you?” he asked pitifully as he leaned up on his elbow.

“You aren’t,” she said firmly, refusing to play whatever game he was playing with her now.

“I held you for seven hours, nineteen minutes and forty-two seconds and it was the most amazing time I’ve spent in anyone’s company.”

“Because I was asleep and silent,” she said ruefully. “Lore, you don’t know what love is. It’s hard and it’s messy and it’s very rarely silent.”

The android pulled himself to sit upright and he held her by the shoulders to turn her towards him again. “Then I want those parts too. You can show me.”

“I have to go,” she told him sternly and waited for him to release his hold.

“Please don’t,” he pleaded and then cupped her face and kissed her forcefully.

Wesley fought against him, horrified. “Leave me alone!” she muttered into his mouth. 

When he finally let her go she raised her hand to hit him, but stopped. Deep down she knew that it wouldn’t hurt him and it may only make him want to hurt her. So she dropped her hand instead and turned her back on him.

“Last night you needed me,” Lore said full of hurt. “You wanted me to get into bed with you; and now you hate me again. Fine, do what you want.”

She couldn’t help herself from watching him over her shoulder as he retreated from the small room in defeat. She wasn’t sure what had been in that concoction Juliana had given her, but she was never taking it again.

Wesley didn’t wait for anyone to take her town. She went off on her own down the most obvious dirt road. The young woman figured that if she followed the tread marks she would find civilization eventually. Her only regret was the boots she was wearing; although nice to look at they were better suited for dinner parties than rough terrain. All the hiking she’d been doing was causing blisters on her feet already.

She was ten minutes into her trek when Data came up behind her. She’d been walking at a good pace, but he easily overtook her and began walking backwards, facing her.

“Where are you going, Lee?” the young android asked curiously. She tried not to cringe at the use of her new nickname. “Mother said she would take you into the colony and was concerned to find you gone without her.”

“It’s fine, Data. You can tell your mother that I can manage on my own,” she told him firmly, knowing it would be unfair to burden him with her problems.

“Forgive me for saying so, but did you not find yourself in your current predicament by attempting to manage on your own?”

Wesley stopped walking and watched as he took a few more backwards steps before stopping as well.

“Go home, Data,” she insisted as she gestured behind her.

“If you do not need me, or require my company I will do as you ask,” he told her and then stood stalk still, waiting.

“No, I don’t need you, but thanks anyways,” she replied after a moment. The truth was she did need him, but not this version of him.

“Goodbye, Lee.” The android gave her one last look of uncertainty and then left her.

It took almost two hours on foot for her to reach the outskirts of town. It probably should have taken less time, but her feet hurt so badly that she had to slow her pace for last half hour, or so.

Wesley was hungry and her head hurt; probably because she was hungry. She stopped and caught the attention of a middle-aged woman working in her front garden.

“Hello? Excuse me, but I’m new around here. Is there somewhere close by where I can get something to eat?”

The woman stopped what she was doing and came closer. Then she looked the younger woman up and down.

“Dressed a little fancy for a morning walk, aren’t we?” she asked suspiciously as she wiped the dirt from her hands.

Wesley looked down at her dress. She was still wearing her useless comm badge like a fancy broach. “This old thing? I wear it all the time,” she said with a nervous smile. In truth she’d now been wearing it for the past couple of days.

“Well, maybe you should head home again. You know, to get the proper kind of nourishment,” the woman said in a slightly offensive fashion.

“Excuse me?” Wesley asked, having no idea why this woman would be so unkind.

“What’s going on Trista?” inquired a large man who’d just come from behind the house. He was carrying a pitchfork—an honest to goodness pitchfork.

“This young lady just came down from the hillside,” she told him in hushed tones.

The man made a face as though he knew exactly what she was talking about and he didn’t look happy about it. His grip tightened on his farming tool, which made Wesley nervous.

“Look, Miss, those scientists know that they need to accompany their droids. People get nervous otherwise,” the man told her very frankly.

“Oh, no,” she said, waving her hands emphatically. “I’m not a droid. I’m not mechanical in any way,” she explained. “I was just out for a hike.”

“In those boots?” Trista asked dubiously.

“Okay, I made a poor choice in footwear,” she grumbled.

“The landing pad is on the other end of the colony. No one just arrives in the hills,” the man informed her, unconvinced.

“I am honestly so sorry that I bothered you good people,” she told them apologetically, her sense of anxiety rising. “I’ll just be on my way.”

She made the mistake of continuing forward when she should have turned around. The man began to stride towards her in a threatening manner.

Just as Wesley stopped to put her arms up defensively and try to disarm him, someone did it for her. Lore had the farming tool firm in his grip and then he threw it like a shot several meters away and out of reach. The man immediately backed off. He wasn’t just fearful of the android’s strength, but of his unnatural golden skin and eyes.

“There you are, Lee. Out wandering around on your own,” said Lore dramatically as he scolded her with his finger wagging in her face. “Naughty girl. We’d better get you home.”

Then, without warning, the android picked Wesley up and threw her over his shoulder. She resisted the urge to scream since there was no chance that those simple farm folk were about to help her. 

“I thought this was a colony of brilliant scientific minds,” she muttered as she bounced on his shoulder, ass in the air.

“And a large ordinary agricultural community,” he informed her.

“Put me down,” she growled crossly.

“No way. I saw how you were walking. It’ll take you over three hours to walk home with the pace you were going.”

“Put me down,” she screamed into his ear. 

He stopped and put her down as she requested. She scurried out of his reach in case he decided to be cute and pick her up again. He didn’t even try, but shook his head instead as he held a hand to his offended ear. Of course he had systems in place to protect his hearing, but that didn’t completely prevent him from having some discomfort.

“Good grief, you are one loud, angry little woman,” he said tersely as he rubbed his ear.

“You can feel pain?” she asked as though she’d never considered it.

“Not pain, exactly,” he told her as he took a step closer.

“Don’t touch me,” she blurted as he took another step. Then she turned from him and retched a little. She didn’t actually vomit this time, but it did make Lore back off.

“Are you usually so frequently ill?” he wondered aloud with concern.

“Motion sickness,” she told him as she straightened up. “You bounced me around like a sack of potatoes, you jerk.”

“If I put you on my back you won’t bounce as much. We can race home in twenty minutes tops,” the android said casually, ignoring her complaint.

“So, that I can be your prisoner? No thanks,” Wesley said with defiance before she turned back in the direction of town.

“Where are you going? Those people don’t want to help you, Lee.”

“That is not my name!” she screamed with aggravation. Lore stared at her, but didn’t say anything to argue against her. “If I have to open a vein to prove I’m human, I’ll do it, but I am not going anywhere with you,” she spat, venomously.

Wesley was sure her left foot was bleeding from a burst blister and it hurt like hell. Lore had already carried her so far that she’d have to walk at least fifteen minutes to get back to where he’d abducted her from. She let out a wail of frustration as one by one took off and threw each of her boots into the woods.

The android watched her in perplexed fascination. “You’re going to walk back into the colony with no boots on and cut open a vein....yeah they lock people up for crazy shit like that, Lee. Good luck!” Lore gave her a wave of his hand and started towards home.

Of course after a few minutes, when he realized that she hadn’t moved and she was still fuming where he’d left her, he came back to stand next to her.

“Why did you follow me?” she asked quietly, refusing to look at him.

“Because I had a feeling that those paranoid norms would think you were like me,” he explained calmly. “Just come back to the compound and my parents can take you into town with them.”

“I can see why you distrust people if they treat you like property; or worse like a dangerous beast of burden,” she pouted.

“Not all of them are like that. You’re not like that,” he said softly.

“I keep telling you to stay away from me,” she told him, regretfully. “I’m just as bad as they are.”

“Nah, I keep molesting you. You have a good reason to tell me to back off,” he said with a twisted sort of laugh.

“That’s not funny.”

“Isn’t it though? Isn’t it a gas that you keep telling me off, but I just can’t leave well enough alone?” 

Wesley remembered something odd just then. Deanna had made a similar observation about Data and how he seemed to be drawn to her company. Maybe she was some sort of strange android magnet.

“Well you should...leave me alone.”

“Because your heart belongs to another man, blah, blah, blah,” he drawled mockingly.

“No, you wanna know why? Because I just don’t like you. You’re rude and mean-spirited and you don’t actually care about anyone. You’re selfish, Lore. You’re a selfish, self-centred, arrogant, egotistical...” Wesley faltered before she could finish.

“Can’t say it, can you? You couldn’t possible say that I’m a man,” he said with distain. “Because I’m not. I’m just some sophisticated computer wearing some human looking parts.”

“Stop feeling so sorry for yourself. How is anyone supposed to love and respect you if keep acting like a whiny little baby,” she shot back, forgetting how dangerous it was to wind him up.

But Lore didn’t get angrier. He smiled at her and actually looked happy that she was telling him off again. He remembered how she’d told him that her expressing how she really felt meant that, in her way, she was treating him like a person. It was as though her insults were now some sort of strange foreplay.

“I’m going to pick you up now and you’re going to let me,” he said very slowly in a no-nonsense sort of way.

Wesley blinked a few times, but understood that he wasn’t giving her a choice. The android crouched down with his back to her and she hopped up to hold his shoulders as he grasped under her thighs. She couldn’t believe she was letting him carry her on his back, but she was tired and starving and couldn’t fight with him anymore.

“Hold on tight, I’m going to run fairly fast,” he told her with a mischievous grin.

......


	10. Sometimes the right thing is the wrong thing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wesley makes some interesting discoveries about Lore and about herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took a few go-overs, but I think I’m fairly happy with it now. Enjoy:)

Wesley soaked her feet in warm water and soothing salts. She was seated in the kitchen in case she unintentionally splashed the water onto the floor. She was sure the Soongs thought she was mentally unstable. She kept showing up with new injuries and couldn’t stop arguing with their son.

“I laid out some clothes for you on your cot. The tops might be a little loose, but I’m sure they’ll do for now,” Juliana told her with a sympathetic smile as she sat down in a carved wooden chair.

Wesley looked down at her own chest and knew she couldn’t contest the fact that she was not especially feminine. Juliana was not a heavy woman by any means, but she had been gifted with a curvier silhouette.

“Thank you; and I’m sorry I took off this morning without telling any of you,” she confessed, feeling guilty about sneaking out in retrospect. “I keep insisting that Lore needs to grow up and take responsibility for his actions, but honestly I should take my own advise.” 

“It’s fine. I’m certain my husband had no idea you were gone,” she reassured her with a chuckle. “I sent Data to make sure you were alright, but I guess you sent him back.”

“Then you didn’t send Lore?”

“No, but I suspected he would follow you whether you wanted him to or not. He is a stubborn one; just like his father.”

“Juliana, how many other androids has Dr. Soong created?” Wesley asked out of the blue.

Red haired woman sighed and folded her hands on the table as she leaned forward. She looked as though she was trying to decide whether or not to confide in her guest.

“There were three others between Lore and Data,” the older woman began, deciding to take the risk. “It’s been difficult for us every time. Lore was such a miracle that it was so heartbreaking when our other boys didn’t last as he did,” she continued with a touch of sorrow. “I know it’s been hard on Lore. I think that’s why he keeps his distance from Data and pretends that he doesn’t care about him.”

The young woman shifted her feet and considered what Juliana just told her. “Data’s different than the others?”

“His matrix is unique. Noonien didn’t try to copy Lore exactly with him. That’s why he doesn’t have human emotions, and has a more difficult time with human nuances. He takes things quite literally.”

“I’ve noticed,” Wesley mused. “I just don’t understand how Lore can be so human and so not human all at the same time.”

“I think the conflict comes from his early years when it was just him and his father,” Juliana explained. “Noonien is not a social creature. I think Lore picked up many of his bad habits during that time. In knowing that he was an android he knew that he was superior to humans. And by feeling superior he didn’t have the desire to relate to, or befriend them, as though they were beneath him.”

“So you take Data into the colony to socialize and interact with people,” she surmised. It was a good idea. Even if he didn’t have the emotional capacity to bond with them, he could better understand what it was like to have a sense of community. She wondered if that innate sense stayed with him even after his memories were wiped.

“Exactly,” the older woman said warmly.

“How long have you been married to Dr. Soong?” the girl asked, hoping to get a better idea of where she’d landed in terms of the colony’s demise.

“Eight years this fall I believe,” Juliana said offhand without thinking anything of it.

“Then you’re about thirty-three,” she said more than asked as she tried to recall the details she once overheard about Data’s parents. She was sure that he had said they’d been married about ten years when they were forced to leave him behind.

“How did you know that?” the red-haired woman asked a little perturbed by her accuracy.

She wanted to say it was thanks to her eidetic memory, but then she’d have to explain who’d told her in the first place. “Lucky guess,’ she said with a shrug.

Juliana smiled awkwardly but didn’t press her further for which she was grateful. “Do you think you might stay for a while? I’m sure we can find things for you to do.”

“I think I might,” Wesley confided, not really wanting to segregate herself again. Besides, she figured if she was stranded in the last years in the history of Omicron Theta it would be far more useful to remain in the eye of the storm.

“You must have had some schooling, or training; a young woman of your age.”

“I actually trained in Starfleet, but I decided to leave. It wasn’t the best fit for me,” she fibbed.

“Don’t tell my husband that you were Starfleet. He doesn’t trust them,” Juliana said with concern.

“That’s good to know,” she said as she nervously bit her lower lip. “Wouldn’t have wanted to have that conversation if I didn’t have to.”

“No you wouldn’t,” the older woman agreed. “What was your specialty?”

“Oh, um, engineering. I was sort of a glitch and problem solver,” Wesley told her, glad she could finally tell the truth about something of her life.

“That’s perfect. You’ll fit right in.”

“Really? Good.”

“Well, I’m going to get dinner started. You stay put and soak a little longer; you can keep me company.” Juliana gave her another kind smile, but frowned as she looked down. “I suppose we’ll need to find you some sensible footwear...or any footwear now that you’ve thrown your boots away.”

Wesley frowned as well, feeling a little foolish for her earlier outburst. She was sure her cheeks were burning with embarrassment.

......

They had fish for dinner. Real fish that had once been alive and probably swam with other fish just like it. Wesley knew that she needed to eat something and keep it down for once. So she did her best to pretend it had come from a replicator.

That night, after everyone had gone to bed, Wesley waited and listened. Lore hadn’t paid her any attention since they’d returned from her attempt to escape into town. He’d been off in the lab with his father and brother. She was starting to wonder if she would ever see the inside of their secret cybernetics lab.

It was sometime in the middle of the night—or early in the morning depending on a person’s perspective—that she felt someone standing beside her. She’d been sleeping lightly since she still wasn’t used to her surroundings and she refused to take any kind of sleep aid.

“If you’re trying to frighten me, it’s working,” she grumbled without opening her eyes.

“I’m sorry, I’m honestly not trying to scare you; I only wanted to make sure you were alright,” Lore whispered somewhere close to her ear.

“I’m fine thanks,” she said into the darkness.

“Then you don’t need me to hold you tonight?” She could hear the disappointment in his voice. 

“No, Lore, but that’s very considerate of you to ask,” she said with sincerity.

“Goodnight, Lee.”

Wesley sighed and hoped that he was gone, but she was never sure with him. It would be ironic to ask for his comfort when her nightmares were all about him. Logically she knew the Lore from her past and this Lore weren’t exactly the same person, but it still didn’t change the facts. Lore had violently violated her and left her for dead.

Some time just before sunrise she was in the throws of one of her night terrors. She must have been flailing in her cot because she suddenly woke with a start as she hit the tile floor. She lay unmoving for a moment as she got her bearings and made sure she was awake. Though it was becoming increasingly more difficult to tell if she was awake or asleep because Lore was in the room watching her.

“Please go away,” she muttered pathetically as he tried to approach her; she could see his outline in the low light of the room.

“I won’t. You need someone,” he whispered as he came closer but didn’t try to touch her yet.

“I want to go home,” she said tearfully as she sat up, still on the floor, and buried her face in the blanket. 

She hated herself. This was all her own fault. Maybe Q had stranded her in this place, but she was the one who ran away from her problems. She would have given anything to back on the Enterprise, where she could go about her mundane life and goof-off with Robin. She would even rather be arguing with Data over Grady than sitting here in her self-loathing being stared at by his psychotic brother.

Lore didn’t speak again, but crouched down and wrapped a comforting arm around her. At first she pulled away, but then let herself lean into him. He wasn’t her Data and he wasn’t the monster who’d hurt her either. So she gave in and let him hold her. The warmth of his touch and his honest compassion surprised her.

After a few minutes he lifted her and set her back on the cot. He tenderly straightened the blankets and tucked her in. She was beginning to wonder if she was still asleep and her mind had replaced the monster with a saint.

“Don’t go,” she whispered as he started to move away again.

“I thought you didn’t need me?” he asked her quietly as he carefully sat down next to her.

“I don’t know what I want,” she said full of sorrow as she sat up again. Her feet hurt, her elbow still burned from where she’d scraped it and she was so sick of not sleeping well. 

“Why don’t you let me know when you’ve figured it. I wouldn’t want you to accuse me of taking advantage of you,” he replied obvious hurt.

She felt sorry for him again and wondered if someone had ever made such an accusation, or perhaps her arrival had stopped something like that from happening. She thought of the woman he’d mentioned; the one who laughed in his face. If she hadn’t shown up when she did would that woman have suffered as his first victim in his vengeance against the colonists? 

Then, in a moment of weakness, she tugged at his sleeve to keep him from leaving the cot. She very slowly and quite cautiously touched his face—a face she’d known so well when it was Data’s. Like her, he leaned into her hand, as though starved for attention. It made her forget she was afraid of him. Then she did the unthinkable and kissed him softly on the lips. 

Lore kept his eyes open, watching her with confused fascination. When she didn’t push him away as she always did, he tried opening his mouth to her instead of trying to force his way into hers. To his surprise she accepted the invitation. The more he let her take the lead, the longer she continued their contact. She even pressed his shoulders so that he slowly lay down on his back and miraculously she followed him, losing herself in own desires.

The way she was kissing him was so different to the times he had kissed her. Lore likened the experience to how she’d described love: messy, not entirely pleasant, and far from silent. In fact the small sensual noises she made were causing something in him to stir, something he couldn’t name. She couldn’t help but press her body onto his as she instinctively let a hand wander and gently slide along the length of his flaccid penis. That was when something clicked in his positronic brain like a switch.

“Ahhhunnm!” he moaned. Sudden electricity shot through him causing his pelvis to thrust up into her manipulations. “Oh fuck!”

“Oh fuck!” Wesley echoed as she snapped out of her fantasy and realized what she’d done. “That’s not suppose to happen.”

There, between the android’s legs, was a full erection. Lore wanted to cry he’d never seen anything more beautiful.

“Please don’t stop,” he openly begged, fearing that if he took over from her that the tenting in his trousers would be gone forever.

“We can’t. This is so wrong,” she panted, certain that she’d lost the last of her sanity. She knew that she was far from home and still angry at her boyfriend, but there was no reason in the universe that would make this a good idea.

“I won’t hurt you,” he told her, his words fast and desperate. “You can show me; you can lead me.”

Wesley was about to bolt from the room when she remembered her nightmares—the one possible reason that she wasn’t looking for. It was stupid and reckless, but she thought maybe, just maybe if she could experience sex with Lore in a loving way it would dispel her trauma. She knew it would never truly be gone, but if there was even a remote chance that it could be lessened how could she not try?

“Won’t your parents be upset?” she wanted to know, trying to talk herself out of going through with it.

“What they don’t know, won’t hurt them,” he said with touch of humour. 

By now his cock was throbbing with need and it was both the most horrible and most thrilling thing he’d ever felt. He would have already been inside her if he wasn’t convinced he would lose all momentum as soon as he became disingenuous in his intensions; one of his father’s manipulative tricks no doubt.

Wesley took a steadying breath and squeezed her eyes shut. She fought off another wave of wanting to run the other way and then removed her underwear from under her nightshirt. Lore helped her to unfasten and pull down his pants to release his erection. He made a few pathetic sounds full of need as she straddled him. Then he slowly and carefully pushed deep into her core. Lore put a pillow over his face to muffle the long moan of ecstasy that escaped his throat. 

Wesley froze; suddenly it was all too real and she had to take a moment to convince herself that she would be alright and that panicking wouldn’t help. However, it was hard for her to relax now that there was a part of this synthetic man inside of her; the same part of his anatomy that had been used like weapon against her in the past. 

Once she regained her composure she still didn’t move right away. She wanted to be sure he wasn’t going to start thrusting full throttle the moment she tried anything. To her surprise he behaved and waited for her to lead him like he said he would. He kept one hand on the pillow and the other firmly on her thigh.

She took a few deep breaths as she very slowly lifted off of him until she reached almost the tip of his erection and then, just as slowly, lowered herself again. She couldn’t see his face hidden under the pillow, but she could tell by the muffled moaning that he was enjoying it very much.

After a few more slow goes, she went a little faster and he seemed to quickly catch onto her rhythm. It was so strange to feel so in control over someone she’d feared for so long. It was empowering. Even when he moved the pillow lower so that he could look at her again, she didn’t feel threatened. He never moved to overthrow her, or flip her onto her back. He’d given himself over completely and it was a revelation.

She could feel his hand holding onto her, almost like an anchor, but she found herself wanting more contact. Slowly she dipped forward, running her fingers along his shirt front and undoing the buttons so she could touch her hands flat to his chest.

Once his shirt was open, she dared to kiss along his collar bone before insistently moving the pillow off the rest of his face so that she could kiss and nip at his neck. Lore’s eyes rolled back and he made the softest groan deep in his throat in appreciation of the new form of physical pleasure. 

Then he moved upwards to meet her—claiming her mouth with his own. He braced himself with one hand behind him while he moved the other hand from her thigh to hold her hip. As they continued to passionately kiss and pant, his fingers dug into her hip and he thrust into her a few more times. On the final thrust he moaned her name into her mouth. She could feel the hot, synthetic cum fill her and he began to soften once more.

Lore fell back onto the cot and looked up at her with a lazy smile as he lay between her legs. She couldn’t help but smile back at his ridiculously satisfied face. 

“Better?” she giggled—never once imagining that she would ever giggle post coital with Lore.

“So much, you have no idea,” he told her sincerely and then kissed the back of her hand.

She had to agreed. She felt better too, only time would tell how much better. Even though kissing Lore was a lot like kissing Data, sex with him was completely different. She couldn’t quite figure out what about it was different, but she decided it didn’t really matter and that different was good.

Wesley moved to perch on the edge of the small mattress while she watched Lore do up his shirt and trousers. As she observed him go about redressing a thought occurred to her.

“You found that pleasurable,” she said out loud, mostly to herself.

“Did you miss the moaning? I’ve never felt anything so wonderful,” he told her a bit sarcastically before pulling her to him again, kissing her lips.

“But Dr. Soong told me that he designed you not to want for sex for pleasure,” she told him as she pulled away slightly.

“The old man also swore up and down that I didn’t have a sex drive,” he said with a shrug. “I suppose I technically didn’t want to have sex with you for pleasure when you touched me.”

“What do you mean?” she asked not believing him for a second.

“I told you, I’m falling in love with you,” he confessed as he looked away as though suddenly shy.

“You mean to say that you can’t have sex for pleasure, but you can make love?” Wesley questioned as she tried not to laugh.

“You still don’t believe me,” he muttered, refusing to look at her now. “My emotions couldn’t possibly be as real as yours. I’m just some sophisticated robot to you.”

“No,” she said emphatically as encircled her arms around him and rested her head on his chest. “I believe you. No one as passionate as you would be incapable of love.” 

What she really meant was that she’d seen the real extent of his hatred and no one who could hate so completely would be incapable of love; even if by the time she’d known him he had destroyed his ability to do so.

Lore allowed himself to look at her again. She could be so hurtful and infuriating, but he was finding it harder and harder to dislike her, or stay angry with her. He’d seen his own parents argue and reconcile enough times to believe that this must be another part of what it was to love someone.

Lore kissed the top of her head and smiled. Before he could do or say anything more they heard movement in the next room.

“I guess your parents are awake,” she noted with a touch of insecurity. She reached over and grabbed her underwear off the floor.

“Don’t worry, their bedroom is next to mine. There’s no way they heard us,” he reassured her with a wicked grin. This time she playfully kissed him.

Wesley hated how easily she’d given into him. Even now she wanted to keep up their physical contact. A part of her was longing to curl up with him and fall asleep in his arms, but then her stomach growled in protest.

“I hope that means you’re hungry and not that you’re about to be sick,” Lore said with concern. He wasn’t joking, he was getting worried about her.

“I’m hungry,” she whispered and hit him in the chest, but not nearly as violently as her friend was prone to do.

“Good. Let’s go feed you,” he said with some relief. 

Lore was about to get up and lead the way to the kitchen when Wesley grabbed at his sleeve again. He gave her an inquiring look as she reached up and combed her fingers through his hair.

“You’ve got bed head,” she mused as she left one dark lock of hair loose over his forehead.

Lore nodded a little before returning the favour, making sure that she was equally presentable.

The two unlikely lovers came out into the kitchen area where they were met by all three remaining members of the Soong clan.

“I hope Lore wasn’t bothering you again,” his father grumbled.

“No. He wasn’t,” she told him adamantly. “We were getting along very well, actually.”

“Really?,” Juliana asked a little unsure.

“It sounded as though you were arguing to me,” commented Data plainly. “Lore sounded quite displeased with you, Lee.”

Wesley froze, remembering how Lore had called out her name. Although it would have been muffled, it may have sounded angry.

“I was not displeased,” Lore told his younger brother with a light pat on his head.

“Then you were not causing her harm?” Data inquired, unconvinced.

“Not at all,” Wesley told the younger android. 

It was strange to be confronted by Data right after she’d let herself be seduced by Lore. In her mind she knew this was the same android she’d known for years, but in her heart he was so innocent and childlike that she felt disconnected from him. She just wondered if she could ever forgive herself for betraying her own Data by having sex with his brother; intentionally this time.

......


	11. Wesley Crusher’s a Slut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I think the title says it all.

Late that afternoon, Wesley went with Juliana and Data to the fresh water spring where they got their water supply from. They had built a line leading from the spring to their home, but it needed routine maintenance to ensure that wildlife and nature didn’t damage it.

It was like arriving in a private paradise. The way the clear, clean water flowed out of the jagged rocks reminded her of Keiko O’Brien’s green house on the Enterprise. She marvelled at the lush plants and flowers that surrounded the large lagoon. It was even more beautiful here than by the stream and Wesley wondered why she’d never thought to venture here before.

Wesley was glad for the distraction and the excuse to be away from Lore. She needed to clear her head so that she could figure out how to proceed now that they’d been intimate. Data was also distracting since he was now golden in complexion like his brother. After spending most of the morning relentlessly asking why Lore got to look so special while he looked like everyone else, his father finally gave in and made the cosmetic adjustment.

So now there were two Soong-type androids wandering around the remote hillside with brilliant gold pigmentation.

“Why did you want to look like Lore?” Wesley asked in hushed tones as to avoid annoying his mother who was running a scan on the opening of the intake.

“You seem to like my brother a great deal since the change in his appearance. It stood to reason that other people might enjoy the change in myself as well,” he said matter-of-factly.

“That sounds like pride to me,” the girl retorted as she dipped a bare foot in the cool water.

“Does it? I have never known myself to be proud, or conceited,” Data noted with the hint of a frown. After some more consideration he decided to get a second opinion. “Mother do you believe me to be conceited?” he called over to Juliana. 

Wesley winced as Data spoke. So much for not bothering the woman while she worked.

The older woman looked over at her android son and furrowed her brows. “What are you talking about, Data?”

“I was just asking Data why he wanted to look like Lore,” Wesley clarified.

Juliana soften her expression and smiled. “It’s not peacocking, Lee. Data just likes to emulate his brother. It’s very sweet actually,” she explained.

“I am sweet, not prideful,” Data told Wesley with a pleased look on his face.

“Sure, Data,” she said in agreement, even though he still seemed a little full of himself to her.

“You do not think we will be mistaken for one another do you?” The young android inquired with a tilt of his head.

“No, I don’t think so. I suppose your father could always find some other way of distinguishing you like facial hair, or eye colour,” she suggested. 

“Or a facial tick,” Data said after a moment of consideration.

“A what?” Wesley rebutted as she recalled that Lore had such a thing when he had been reactivated on the Enterprise.

“It was quite some time ago, Lore developed a facial tick. It was quite an odd, uncontrolled spasm. Father corrected it, but it does recur from time to time,” he explained.

“But your father didn’t give it to him on purpose?” the girl asked, unsure. It had been her understanding that the scientist had done it for a reason—at least that was what Lore claimed.

“Not at all. In fact, Father cannot stand to look at my brother when he has it. He finds it to be an insult to his careful, meticulous work.”

“Oh, I can see how he wouldn’t like it.”

Wesley now had both feet in the water and was kicking them a little without realizing what she was doing. The sound must have caught Juliana’s attention because she called over to her again.

“You can go for a swim if you like,” the older woman told her. “We have quite a sophisticated filtering system.”

“I don’t have a swimsuit,” she said with a shrug, knowing that she was making excuses.

“Data won’t mind and we’re both woman,” Juliana told her with laugh.

“Maybe if you turn away,” Wesley told Data, feeling conspicuous about undressing in front of him. The android complied and turned his back to her. She slipped off her clothes—Juliana’s clothes— and undergarments before slipping into the cool water.

Wesley realized she hadn’t had a shower that day and it felt good to at least get the sense of being clean, especially after her encounter with Lore. She dunked her head under the water and when she came up again she heard a loud splash close-by.

“Be careful!” Juliana scolded. “Sometimes you can be such a child.”

The young woman whipped herself around just in time to see a golden head pop out the water a few feet away. The android swam up to her but stopped once he was close enough to touch her.

“I thought you couldn’t swim?” she asked skeptically as she watched him bob up and down farcically.

“My feet are touching the floor of the pond,” he told her plainly.

“Oh, right,” she commented as she tried to touch it as well. She could just barely manage on her tiptoes.

“You are much shorter than I am,” the android mused.

“So what? Are you the height police?” she joked and splashed him playfully. She had to admit that it was strange to connect with Data in this new way. Strange, but nice.

“No,” he replied as he furrowed his brow. “Are there height police where you come from?”

“It was a joke,” she told him with a chuckle. “Are you naked?” she added after a moment when she noticed the brilliant reflection under the water.

“What do you think?” he snarked and then closed the distance between them, pressing his body to hers.

She could feel his erection against her side and that was when she knew that he wasn’t Data at all.

“Lore, stop being such a pervert! I thought you were Data,” she cried with indignation.

“Shhh! Keep your voice down. I can’t help what my body does when you’re near me,” he whispered wickedly into her ear.

“Stop it, yes you can,” she complained as she tried to push him off of her. “I mean it Lore, if you keep hanging on me you’ll drown me.”

“You’re not that short,” he grimaced at her over-exaggeration. “Come on, you know you like me,” he teased as he nuzzled her ear since most everything else was below the water.

“Stop it, that tickles,” she giggled. “Your mother is right over there.”

“She’s busy with junior. She won’t even notice us.”

Before Wesley could protest again he pulled her to him, front to front this time. She let herself wrap her legs around his middle for support and her arms about his neck. She had to admit that he was quite solid. Now that she was safe from drowning, Lore closed his mouth on hers and greedily helped himself. More surprising than his audacity to assume he could kiss her was how she welcomed his affection.

“You are a shameless slut, Wesley Crusher,” she thought to herself with self-deprecation. 

She could tell herself that she was reacting to the distress of being trapped in her situation, but the truth was that she wasn’t even trying to resist him. He was so much like her Data at times that it was easy to give herself permission to be with him.

Within moments he was inside her and they rocked together hidden in the darkness of the water. She really hoped that they had as fantastic a water filter as she was led to believe.

Juliana looked up from her task just as they were moving away from one another again. Lore squirted water from his mouth, aiming it at his companion. Wesley cried out in disgust as it nearly hit her in the face.

“Lore, leave that poor girl alone. She doesn’t need you bothering her,” his mother scolded.

“Yes mother,” he huffed crossly. He flashed one more smile at his lover before he went to side of the pond and lifted himself out of the water.

Wesley found herself staring at his naked body. It was the same as Data’s but slightly more muscular. It didn’t really make sense that they would be all that different since their android strength came from their construction not necessarily how much muscle mass they had. She still stared none the less.

“You are such a damn slut,” she whispered to herself.

.....

It was several weeks later when Lore was helping Wesley to clear out the little room she’d claimed as her own. She could have taken up lodging in town where she could have had more space to herself, but she was starting to feel like she belonged in their odd little family dynamic and didn’t mind taking what little they had to offer. She hadn’t been trusted to work in the lab yet, but she’d been able to help out in other ways.

“What about the bed? You can’t possible be happy with that little lumpy cot,” Lore observed with a frown.

“I think I like a bed more than a hammock,” she confided as she ran her hands through her short hair; although it was less short than it had been.

“I can build you a frame that will fit this space and then Data can help me construct a proper mattress,” he told her with confidence.

“That’s so sweet of you,” she said with affection before giving him a kiss. Being close and intimate with him was becoming second nature to her now.

She thought a new bed would be perfect to celebrate her over-coming her night terrors. The more time she spent in Lore’s company, the less often she had them. She was sure it had been at least a couple of weeks now since she’d even thought about them at all.

The android grinned from ear to ear. He couldn’t help but want to make her happy. He’d never cared about making anyone happy before. Of course he was more or less obedient to his parents and didn’t mind when he pleased them or Data, but she was the first person outside of his family who made him feel like a person—like a man.

Dissatisfied with the small peck she gave him, Lore pulled the girl fiercely to him and kissed her deeply. She hummed her approval, but hit him lightly on the shoulder. 

“Not now. Maybe later,” she whispered covertly as she shamelessly ran her hands over his chest.

“I can control myself, Lee. Not every kiss has to lead to sex.”

“Says you,” she pouted, adjusting her top and fanning herself. 

“Hmm, that’s another thing we need to do. Get you a proper wardrobe. It’s weird having intimate thoughts about you when you’re wearing my mother’s clothes,” Lore told her with a pained expression.

“I know. I think I’ve been helping out around here enough that I don’t feel as bad to ask for new clothes,” she said with a sigh. “Besides, I need them. I swear I’ve put on ten pounds since I’ve been here. Must be all the real food,” she lamented as she looked down at her fuller breasts and patted her slightly rounded stomach.

“You’re not fat, so don’t even think it,” he told her with a shake of his head. “You just haven’t been exercising. You’ve been too busy being their little house slave. Cooking, cleaning, helping in the garden and around the compound. I think you’ve earned more than a couple of outfits,” he said adamantly.

“I don’t feel like a slave,” she told him with a disapproving air.

“But don’t you like the fantasy of it?” he asked with a suggestive wag of his eyebrows. “You the poor love-starved slave girl and me the attractive son of your masters with the heart of gold.”

“Stop it, you’re incorrigible,” she told him with tap on the chin. It was times like these that he reminded her of Robin.

Lore grinned, but then frowned as he noted a sadness to her expression.

“What is it?” he asked with genuine concern.

“I was just thinking of home. I have a very dear friend who’s pregnant and she was sort of counting on me to be there for her,” she told him as she sat down on the cot. “She may have had the baby already, I’ve kind of lost track of time.” 

Wesley knew that time didn’t actually matter. Even it had been a few months since her arrival, Robin existed in the future. A future she may never return to—or worse, a future she was meddling with just by being in the past; altering it forever. 

She tried not think about how changing Lore could change his outcome in life. If he didn’t become a vindictive monster the colony might survive and Data might never find his way into Starfleet. Which would also mean that she—or rather young, male Wesley Crusher—would never meet Lore in the first place. No one on the Enterprise would. 

Then there was the paradox of it all; what if she suddenly ceased to exist because she’d effectively stopped the android’s misdeeds? But if she disappeared he would either be heartbroken, or forget her altogether which would lead him to the same murderous outcome as his original iteration. Thinking about it made her brain hurt.

“I could take you back to the relay. I know the code now so I can boost the range,” he told her warmly as he sat next to her and began rubbing comforting circles on her back; something he’d picked up from his mother. “You can let your friend know that you’re alright and you’re thinking of her.”

“I don’t know, but that’s really kind of you to offer,” she told him as she affectionately touched his face. It still surprised her that he could be so unselfish.

“I think I’m going to tell them...about us. I mean they’re both geniuses they must be somewhat aware that something’s going on between us.”

“What will you tell them exactly?” she asked, a little unsure of how they might take the news that she’d been unapologetically messing around with their android son for weeks.

He wrapped his arms around her from behind as he kissed her neck. It was an endearing move she’d witnessed his father use on his mother once or twice; when he thought no one was looking.

“I’ll just be honest and tell them we’re in love,” he cooed into her ear.

Although she was happy that he was capable of being in love, she wasn’t convinced that she was. She was starting to wonder if she’d ever really been in love before. She seemed to recover much too quickly after Robin left her for Geordi. Not to mention how she’d cheated on Data mere days after he supposedly cheated on her. Where was the gut wrenching heartbreak, or immobilizing depression? Sure she felt affection for them and loved them dearly for their friendship, but it just made her feel like a fraud that she could so willingly move on from one lover to the next. 

“What’s wrong now?” he wondered as though he could sense her internal conflict.

“I don’t know if I’ve even been in love before,” she confessed. “I thought I was at the time, but now I’m not so sure.”

“Would you give up your happiness for theirs? Does just knowing that they’re safe and cared for seem to matter more than your own needs?”

Wesley turned her head to look at the android over her shoulder. “I’m sorry, but are you trying to tell me that you’re some sort of expert?”

“I’m an android. I’m a walking, talking resource for all kinds of information,” he quipped, stating the obvious. She found his statement to be reasonable and made no argument against him.

“Some people say that you can’t truly love another person until you love yourself,” she added with a frown; continuing their conversation.

“By the look on your face I’d say that you’re unsure about my feelings,” he said sadly. But it wasn’t his feelings that she doubted.

“What? No. If anyone loves themselves, it’s you,” she teased in an effort to distract him.

“You little bitch,” he laughed as he spun her around to face him. “You need punishing for your smart mouth,” he declared as he attacked her neck again, biting and sucking at it.

She let out a bark of laughter despite her doubts. Then she cried out in feigned distress as he continued his onslaught. That was when she finally got it; why she’d been so easily swayed by him. Lore was the perfect combination of Data and Robin. He was male and strong and vastly intelligent like Data, while being wickedly clever and playful like Robin. Who knew that he could be such a good match? She never in a million years would have guessed it.

“Stop,” she begged weakly.

Lore did stop, but only so he could kiss her on the mouth. She was ready for him to keep going, but Data stuck his head in the door.

“Are you alright, Lee?” Data asked innocently. They jumped apart and stared at him. “It sounded as though Lore was being unkind,” the younger android added as he stared back at them.

“I’m fine, Data. Thank you for your concern,” Wesley said nervously.

“Were you kissing just now?” he asked, uncertain.

“Yeah and you kind of interrupted us, little brother,” Lore told him. He wasn’t unkind in his delivery, just a little annoyed.

“My apologies; presuming you wanted my brother to kiss you,” Data said to ‘Lee’.

“Yes, I did,” she confided, knowing her face was going red.

“Then I will take my leave,” said the young android.

“Wait, Data,” Lore called to his brother. Data stuck his head back in the doorway. “Don’t say anything to the folks. I’ll tell them, okay?”

“Understood. This is your information to share,” Data concurred with a quick nod.

“Good boy,” Lore said with a smile. Then Data left them alone again.

“I guess you have no choice now,” Wesley lamented as she smoothed her hair behind her ears.

“What’s the worst that could happen? They’ll probably be thrilled that I’m acting so normal.”

....


	12. Trust Issues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dr. Soong is not happy about his houseguest.

Dr. Soong came out of his lab sometime after dinner time. He was doing that a lot lately; skipping meals with the other two humans in his household. He claimed it had do with some innovation to his work, but his wife suspected it was due to his antisocial nature. 

“Is that girl still here?” Soong grumbled as he sat down to eat his reheated meal. Sure he’d been nice to her at first, but that was back he when he thought she was spending one night, before she’d moved into their spare room.

“Yes, she is. You know that she is,” his wife told him with an exasperated sigh.

The man looked over at his two sons listening to one of her stories; hanging on her every word.

“Our boys don’t need a babysitter,” he commented harshly.

Juliana shook her head as she sat down across from her husband. “Believe me when I tell you that she is no babysitter,” she informed him in hushed tones.

“That’s all I ever see her do—sit around and tell them stories. I don’t need her filling their heads with silliness.”

“If you stuck your head out of your lab every once in awhile—or ventured to join us for a meal—then you’d know that she’s been busy helping out around here.”

“Busy? Doing what?” he demanded before taking another mouthful of his supper. The truth was that he had noticed how she been squeezing her way into their family and making herself useful and it rubbed him the wrong way.

Juliana rolled her eyes in annoyance. “Lee helped me with the climate control when it wasn’t cooling properly, again.”

“I was going to fix that,” he grunted.

“And she’s come up with a more efficient relay system for the solar panels,” she told him.

“Data could have done that if it was necessary, which it wasn’t,” he rebutted.

“She also went into town with us yesterday to get supplies after I asked you four times to come with me,” she huffed.

“So what you mean to say is that this girl isn’t just a playmate for the boys, but she’s your playmate as well.”

“Noonien, she’s smart and capable and has no intention of stealing any of your ideas,” Juliana said adamantly.

“Then why is she still here? There are traders and transport ships every so often. Isn’t it a little odd that she’s still hanging around?” her husband questioned with suspicion.

“She has her reasons. Look for yourself,” she told him as she gestured over to the trio seated in the main living area.

The scientist looked over at them again. He really didn’t know why he was bothering. He knew that it was good for his android sons to socialize, but he had no reason to believe their little friend needed to live with them. It wasn’t as though his wife didn’t have other casual acquaintances in the colony.

Then he caught it. Lore leaned over and said something into the young woman’s ear and smiled. Whatever he said made her smile too. She leaned over and chastely kissed his cheek. He knew he should be pleased to see his moody, despondent older son was showing signs of affection, but for some reason he wasn’t. 

“So he likes her, so what? The novelty will wear off and she’ll leave him sad and lonely, just like he was before,” Soong said without humour. “If you really wanted to help the boy you’d get her to leave before he gets in too deep.”

“How can you say that? I know you’re not a romantic man by any means, but why can’t you see how her presence has changed him?” she replied with dismay. “I know you have trouble keeping track of time, but she’s already been here for a couple of months and in that time he’s become kinder and gentler. He’s even willing to spend more time with his brother.”

“That’s fine for now, but then she’ll leave and he’ll be impossible. He’ll start taking out his frustrations on the colonists and we’ll be run off the planet,” he told her dramatically.

“Why are you always so pessimistic?” she asked with disappointment. “Why can’t you see that Lee isn’t like every other person who betrayed your trust?”

“That girl hasn’t done a thing to earn my trust. If she’s still here in six months, maybe I’ll take her seriously. For now, she’s just some stranger freeloading off of my dear wife’s generosity,” he said sharply. “I think I’ll finish eating in my lab.”

Juliana’s mouth fell open in disbelief as she watched her husband take his plate and disappear again. It was times like these she had to question why she’d married the man in first place; maybe her mother had been right.

.....

A few days later, Data was working away in the side garden. He was very meticulously spacing out the new tomato plants when Wesley offered him some help.

“I am fully capable of planting these on my own. However, if you would like to assist me we will need to water them once I am done,” he told her with a pleased ghost of a smile.

The house guest tried not to laugh at him. The young android was covered in smudges of dark earth, including one large one cross the bridge of his nose. It was a little perplexing and she couldn’t imagine how it got there. If he were human it could easily be excused, but as an android he had no obvious reason to touch his face. It wasn’t as though he would have a sudden itch or irritant to rub at.

“Sure, Data,” she managed without giggling. “Is there a watering can, or a hose I can hook up somewhere?”

“There is a hose that is kept inside the entryway to our home, off to the left. It will connect to the intake line beside the compound.” he explained.

“Great. I’ll go get the hose,” she said with a smile.

Wesley came around to the front of their dwelling, but stopped when she saw Dr. Soong chatting with a man down where the clearing met the end of the dirt road. The movement of her arrival must have caught the scientist’s attention because he motioned for her to come and join them.

She nervously walked over to Dr. Soong and the very broad shouldered man. He looked to be in his thirties and had a beard that reminded her of Will Riker.

“Lee Howard, I’d like you to meet a colleague of sorts. This is Dr. Corbin Dane. He’s developing a new method of creating self-sustaining ecological environments.” 

“That’s very interesting,” she said politely. She still had no idea why Dr. Soong, a man who had been ignoring her for ages, would be so keen to introduce her to this man.

“He’s looking for a new lab assistant and I thought that perhaps you might be interested,” he told her with importance.

“Yes, Noonien was just telling me how innovative you’ve been around here and thought you might want to challenge yourself beyond simple household chores,” explained Corbin. “I would love for you to come to my lab and show me what you’re capable of.”

The young woman felt uncomfortable with his inflection and took a wary step backwards. It certainly sounded as though he was looking forward to seeing what she was capable of, but she wasn’t convinced it had to do with the work in his lab. It could be that she was more self conscious these days with the changes to her feminine form, however she knew it wasn’t all in her head because the man very obviously looked her up and down at least twice.

“That’s a very flattering offer, but I don’t really think I’m qualified. I’m an engineer not a farmer.”

“That’s perfect. Think more in terms of bio dome and less in terms of open fields,” said Corbin with another lingering gaze on her breasts.

“I really don’t think I’m interested,” Wesley said firmly as she crossed her arms instinctively over her front to block his view. Then she gave Dr. Soong a bit of of disapproving look.

“Dr. Dane would be more than willing to teach you as you go. A capable young woman such as yourself shouldn’t have any trouble...”

“No thank you,” she interjected, cutting off Dr. Soong. Clearly he’d missed her signals of discomfort.

“Let me know if you change your mind, Lee. You shouldn’t be squandering your talents on homemade solar panels and waste disposal units,” said Corbin, who didn’t seem all that disappointed that she wouldn’t be joining him.

Noonien Soong was a fairly quiet, unimposing man. So when he followed the girl into the house and cornered her, Wesley a bit alarmed.

“How could you turn down his offer so easily? Were you trying to make me look like an old fool?” he asked in a very accusatory tone.

“What is with you and Lore? You aren’t that old and I’m certain that you’re nobody’s fool,” she retorted without hesitation. “I didn’t want to go with him because I like it here. Besides, he was a creep. He kept staring at my chest.”

“Dr. Corbin Dane is not a creep,” Soong rebutted with offence. “He’s a married man and has three obnoxious children. He also works almost exclusively with women so there’s no reason to believe he would try anything with you.”

“Oh no? You think he has a big enough harem that he would leave me alone?” she snarked as she grabbed the hose, looping her arm through it.

“What is wrong with you, girl?” he went on harshly, no longer pretending to be kind. “Don’t you want to make something of yourself? Haven’t you hidden away in my home and taken advantage of my family for long enough?”

Wesley paused and regarded him for a moment. She wondered if he would have been so ready to be rid of her if she’d been a man. “This isn’t about your pride and I don’t think it’s about your family either. They like me,” she said with a frown. “But you don’t. I thought maybe you did, but I’ve barely seen you in weeks.”

“You don’t belong here,” he said quite rudely and then went back outside.

Wesley followed him, dropping the hose to the ground so she could catch up with him.

“No I don’t belong here,” she said in agreement. “I got stuck here and your family took me in. They’ve been more than generous, you’re right, but I honestly thought I was contributing. I really believed I was proving to be useful. I knew that there was little chance that I would ever assist the great Dr. Noonien Soong in his highly secretive lab, but at least I could make your life easier by taking care of the mundane things you didn’t have time for.”

The man knew there was truth to what she was saying and it stung a little to hear it. However, instead of reconciling and asking for her forgiveness for being so narrow minded he pushed back at her again.

“You’re just a silly girl, Lee, with no ambitions. Grow up and get your own family. You can’t have mine,” he told her crossly.

“Stop calling me a girl like it’s some great insult. I’m a twenty-two year old engineer who knows her shit and doesn’t have to take crap from mean, misogynistic men like you!” she yelled, tired of taking his abuse. 

She started to storm off and he stood watching her, bewildered by her outburst. He’d been expecting her to fold and give up like she had before, not stand up to him and fight back. 

Then Wesley stopped when she remembered why she’d come around to the front of the compound in the first place. She turned on her heel and stomped over to get the hose where she’d dropped. She looked as though she would be on her way, but she came to stand beside him again.

“And another thing; I don’t want to steal your family,” she told him with resignation. “I was just dumb enough to believe I could be a part of it, but if you really want me to go, I’ll go.”

Dr. Soong had a pained expression. She didn’t understand that he was only thinking of his son and trying to save him from eventual heartache. There was something else that was bothering him as well. Something he hadn’t noticed about her until now when she made such a display of walking back and forth in front of him. 

“Just tell me one thing,” he requested as he soften a little in his resolve.

She frowned and sighed. “What do you want to know?”

“Are you in love with Lore?” he asked uncertain that he was going to like any answer she could give him.

“He’s in love with me, he told me as much,” she confessed.

“And you, Lee?” he countered full of doubt for her intentions.

She knew she wasn’t; she couldn’t be. She was infatuated maybe, but not in love. However, she couldn’t deny that the thought of leaving now and breaking the android’s heart made her feel sick.

When she hesitated Dr. Soong’s scowl deepened. “That’s what I thought.”

“I know I care for him a great deal. I just don’t know that I’m in love with him,” she said honestly to try to sway him.

“Well, I suppose you’d better stay for now. I know my wife would never forgive me for ruining our son’s first chance at love,” he said still unconvinced that it was the right thing.

“Thank you, sir. Don’t worry I’ll stay out of your way,” she said with appreciation.

“I guess maybe that Dane is a bit of a creep,” Soong conceded with a bit of a smirk.

“Just a bit,” she acknowledged with a crinkle of her nose.

Wesley brought the hose to the side garden and hooked it up as she’d been directed. She suddenly didn’t feel very well. It could have been the heat of the day, or the adrenaline wearing off from her argument with Dr. Soong. Data took notice of her change in body language and took the heavy hose from her.

“Perhaps you should go inside and cool off. You appear to be unwell,” he said kindly as he steadied her with his free hand.

“I’m fine, Data. I think I just need a moment.”

The young woman was beginning to get frustrated with herself and how many extra moments she seemed to need these days. It was getting embarrassing. It was possible that she wasn’t used to rural life just yet, or it could be due to all the real meat she’d been eating, but she decided to blame it on the time travel. She hadn’t quite been the same since she’d made this last trip to Omicron Theta.

“I could hear you arguing with my father. You will not leave us, will you?”

“Goodness, you almost sound upset about it,” Wesley teased the emotionless android.

“I have become accustomed to your company. If you were to depart I would notice your absence,” he explained frankly.

“Data, just say it like is. You’d miss me,” she countered with a smirk. She was more than a little sure that she’d had this conversation with her Data before. It was actually comforting to see that he liked her so much.  
The young android opened his mouth to correct her and remind her that such a thing was impossible, however he thought better of it and remained quiet. Instead he began to water his plants.

When Wesley had recovered from her little episode of dizziness she boldly walked up to her friend and tapped him on the shoulder. Data turned his body towards her and consequently sprayed her with water.

“My apologies. It was not my intention to cause you to become wet,” Data stated plainly as he redirected the spray of the hose.

“That’s okay. It was actually quite refreshing,” she said as she shook some of the water away. “I wanted to wipe some of the dirt from your face.”

“I have dirt on my face?”

“Please lean down,” she instructed.

Data did as he was asked. She used the edge of her now very damp shirt to wipe away the grime from his face. Lore came around to the garden just as she unintentionally flashed a bit of her bra when she lifted the shirt too high.

“What’s going on? Why are you giving my dear brother a free show?” Lore asked unnerved by her display.

“Oh please. I was skinny dipping in front of him a couple of weeks ago,” she tossed over her shoulder at him. The truth was she still forgot her modesty from time time. She never had to worry about flashing her chest when she was a man.

“What is ‘skinny dipping’?” Data inquired as he straightened his posture.

“It’s swimming naked and I can’t say that I was super thrilled that you did that either,” Lore retorted harshly.

“You should not be concerned, brother. I have no desire what so ever to have a physical relationship with Lee,” Data explained, believing this would quell his suspicions.

“Oh right, like you could ever make her happy,” he rebutted coldly.

“Hey, cool it. Don’t be mean to your brother,” Wesley scolded on behalf of the other android.

“Why not? He doesn’t care. It’s not like I can hurt his damn feelings,” Lore informed her unchanged in his attitude.

“Because despite what you might believe he actually respects you,” she said poking him with her index finger. “More than that, one day your parents will be gone and you’ll only have each other.”

“She is not wrong,” said Data in agreement with raised brows.

“Fine. I was wrong. I’m not angry with Data,” Lore said as he turned his attention to the woman of easy virtue. “I’m angry with you.”

“Me?” Wesley shot back in disbelief.

“I saw you chatting with that Dane guy, which was bad enough. Then I come to talk to you and you’re lifting your shirt up. Were you raised by animals?”

“I didn’t want to talk to Dr. Dane. That was all your father’s doing,” she explained as cheeks burned with annoyance. “And stop getting so mad about my damn shirt.”

“I wouldn’t have to get mad if you kept your clothes on!”

“You know, you can be a real dick sometimes,” she grumbled and stormed off.

Both androids watched her disappear around the corner. Data looked as though he was about to say something and Lore put up a hand to stop him.

“I swear to the gods that if you ask me what it means to be called a ‘dick’ I will punch you right in your dumb, emotionless face,” Lore told his brother without humour.

Data held his tongue and watched as his brother followed their houseguest back around the side of their dwelling.

Lore followed Wesley into her room and slammed the door shut behind him. The woman startled from the loud bang.

“Why do all the other rooms have modern sliding doors, but mine has an old fashioned, hinged one?” she blurted in frustration.

“I don’t know, actually,” Lore said quietly, as though her absurd comment made him forget why he was pissed off at her.

Wesley was in the middle of disrobing out of her wet clothes when she burst into a fit of laughter. 

“What? Why are you laughing?” he asked quite crossly.

“I don’t know. That was just so funny. You know everything, but you don’t know why I have some old screwy door,” she told him between giggles.

“It wasn’t really that funny. Are you drunk? I know life around here can get pretty boring, but I don’t think day-drinking is the answer,” he rambled with concern for her state of mind.

“No, I’m not drunk,” she replied adamantly as she slipped on something dry. “I think maybe I’m happy. Despite your ornery father and your jealousy, I think I’m actually happy.”

“Oh yeah? ‘Cause we were fighting just now. So that’s weird that fighting makes you happy.”

Then she realized that that was what had been missing from her relationship with Data. Even when they argued he was always the peacemaker looking for the quickest and most efficient resolution. It wasn’t like when she was with Robin and they would fight about the stupidest things just because. Sometimes it was good to be a little ridiculous and yell about inane things.

“It’s not just the fighting. You make me happy, you jealous jerk,” she elaborated as she came to stand in front of him, so close that they were almost touching.

“I believe the word you’re looking for is ‘dick’,” Lore informed her snidely with a smirk.

“You just wanted to say ‘dick’, didn’t you?” she joked crassly.

“Maybe,” he conceded and then dipped his head and kissed her longingly. “You’re impossible.”

“Back at you,” she mused.

......


	13. No Pain No Gain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wesley tries exercising. Lore behaves badly.

It was a couple of weeks later still and Lore hadn’t told his parents about them yet. Not that he needed to, since Wesley’s argument with his father it wasn’t really necessary. 

The android finally found the time to build his lover a new bed. By the way she was often rubbing her lower back, he knew she was in dire need of a proper mattress. Data helped him to make one, ensuring it would be firm yet comfortable. All in all, the bed was simple and sturdy and all hers. It was nice to finally feel like something was hers. Although she was sure that Lore would argue that he was hers as well.

Wesley was getting tired of the fact that she was putting on weight. She was well aware of her food intake and didn’t feel as though she was eating all that much more, or all that differently from when she was in Starfleet. She thought maybe it was hormonal. She was still getting used to her female body and thought that it was a bit odd that she’d ever actually gotten a full menstrual cycle.

Another new concern she was discovering was the size and tenderness of her breasts. It was the first time in a longtime that she was having second thoughts about her choice in gender. When she’d arrived she was slim and lean, but now she was almost as hourglass as Juliana; or she would have been if she hadn’t been holding some of her new weight in her middle.

“I’m a Starfleet officer for pity’s sake. If I was suddenly back home tomorrow I would never pass a physical,” she chided herself as she jogged the rocky terrain along the stream. “Shape up, or ship out.”

She wanted to take back some control in her life and now that she had proper footwear and a little free time, she was determined to exercise. She ran up the steep incline to the comm relay for cardio. After doing that for a while she followed the stream at a jog to try and burn off any extra calories. 

She’d jogged all the way up to the spring. She was tempted to jump in and cool off, but decided not to after her recent argument with Lore. For some reason she was nervous of him finding out if she were to go skinny dipping alone. So she settled for some stretches and took a long drink from the fresh water source in the rock face.

“Don’t startle, it’s only me,” came a family gravelled voice over the rush of the water.

Wesley looked up and grinned at Dr. Soong. “Hello.”

“Hello, Lee,” he replied as he took in her sweaty, disheveled appearance. “My wife is wrapped up in Data’s artistic program, so it was my turn to come and check the intake today,” he explained without humour. She could tell he was unimpressed that the task had fallen to him.

“Artistic program?”

“Yes. She feels that he needs a way to express himself since he doesn’t have traditional emotions. So she’s coding a program to help him find his artist side. Art, music, theatre, you get the idea.”

“Of course. I think that’s a wonderful idea,” she beamed, knowing how much Data appreciated the program in the future.

“It is, I suppose. I keep trying to tell her that I’m working on an emotions chip just for him, but she doesn’t want to discuss it. She wants me to leave him be,” he continued.

“Why? Why wouldn’t Juliana want Data to have emotions?” she wondered knowing how much he wanted them.

“She claims that she’s worried he’ll become overwhelmed. The real truth is that the only sustainable android with emotions that we’ve been able to observe is Lore,” he confided. “And to be honest we were both becoming concerned that we would have to deactivate him.”

“Because he was so erratic,” she said knowingly. 

Dr. Soong nodded and for the first time felt a bit of a kinship with the young woman. He’d doubted her insight into his son before and took her for a silly romantic having her fun with an android. But now, after he began taking her seriously, he could tell that she understood Lore with more depth than he was ready to give her credit for.

“You seemed to have soothed the wild beast in him,” he told her warmly.

She couldn’t help but smile at his quirky comment. She was happy that he was finally accepting her presence. 

“Why didn’t you just send Lore, or Data to come up to check the intake?” She asked after a moment.

“Data is working in the garden again. The boy is obsessed with his tomatoes. He will probably never even eat one—not that it would taste to him as it would to us.”

“He is very diligent,” she mused.

“That he is,” he replied with a grin of his own. “Lore has a little side project of his own in the works, so he wasn’t available. I was actually going to ask you to do it, but I couldn’t find you. Now I see why.”

Wesley wondered what side project Lore could possibly be working on that he was keeping secret from her. 

“I can take over if you want. I’m sure you have other things you could be doing,” Wesley offered kindly as she came around to stand beside the man.

The scientist gave her an odd look. “You didn’t run up here did you?”

“I jogged. I’m sure you’ve noticed that I’ve put on a few pounds. I just thought I would start working them off,” she said as she casually patted her stomach.

“I don’t know if that’s such a great idea; coming out here by yourself. We’re pretty isolated, but other people could come up here and I wouldn’t want you to get into any trouble,” he said with a small amount of concern.

“I thought this was a peaceful, productive colony?” she questioned as she stretched out her arms some more.

“Sure, but there are transports and traders who come through here from time to time, which of course you know since that’s how you got here,” he said with a suspicious air.

“Right,” she replied with a nervous laugh. “But I’m sure it’s fine. I know how to defend myself.”

“Even so, I would be worried about you in your current condition,” he said casually without thinking.

“Look I know I’ve gotten a little soft, but I assure you I’m trained in self-defence,” she rebutted, offended by his insinuation that she was too out of shape to protect herself.

“Fine, fine,” he said defensively putting up his hands dramatically to ward off any further rebuttal. “Just promise you’ll take it easy on yourself. A girl like you probably isn’t used to all this outdoor living.”

“I think I can manage,” she said in her own defence.

“Then here,” Soong said plainly as he handed her the device in his hand. “I’ll let you run the scan and make sure everything is working properly.”

“It would be my pleasure,” she said with a good natured laugh at his continued disgruntled attitude.

“Fantastic.”

Later as Wesley was making her way back down to the compound she caught sight of Lore through the thicket of trees. He was coming out of a structure in a small clearing. She’d never walked this way before and had no idea why he would be coming out of what looked like an old log cabin.

She planned to wait until he was on the path before she let him know she was there; although being an android he was well aware of her presence already.

“I can hear your footfalls, Lee,” he said as he stopped abruptly in his stride.

“That’s kind of an intimate thing that you know what I sound like when I’m walking behind you,” she mused.

“Why are you out here by yourself?” he asked a little coldly, completely missing her attempt to be playful with him.

Wesley frowned at his tone. “I was exercising and then I checked the water intake,” she said quite seriously as she waved the scanner at him.

“Oh, right,” he said offhand, feeling a little foolish that he’d thought she was spying on him.

“Don’t worry. I wouldn’t dream of asking you what you were doing out here all by yourself,” she said a bit unkindly as she passed him and continued on her way.

“Lee,” he called to her as he caught up. 

She made the mistake of giving him the benefit of the doubt and was surprised when he took her forcefully by the shoulders and pushed her back against a large tree. She dropped the scanning device from her hand when he kissed her roughly without any warning. When she gave him little to no response, he pushed his tongue into her mouth as though to prove his urgency.

She felt it, but it didn’t feel good. Besides she’d been sweating and he’d made her feel bad. She just wasn’t in the mood to give him what he wanted this time.

Lore finally got the message and punched the trunk next to her head. She startled, a little afraid by his reaction to her rejection.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know why I keep treating you so badly. I know I should trust you.” he lamented with his eyes closed in frustration; completely missing the look of fear in her eyes.

“Good. I forgive you. Now let me go,” she told him still feeling hurt, but not wanting to push him further into a fight that she was sure she wouldn’t win.

Lore moved away and let her pick up her fallen device. He followed behind her by a few paces all the way home, but didn’t engage her again.

When they arrived, Data caught the young woman by the arm and eagerly led her to sit down. His face was full of excitement, or at least he looked as excited as Data could get without proper emotions. She was more than a little relieved to have him pull her away from Lore for awhile, even if all she wanted was a hot shower and a meal.

“Data what is it?” Wesley asked him expectantly.

“Yeah, make it quick. Lee has better things to do,” sniped Lore.

Both Data and Wesley turned to look at Lore and made it abundantly clear that he was not invited to participate in their conversation.

“Go ahead Data,” the girl prompted again as the other android stormed off to his room.

“Mother has just informed me of the program she is working on. It should give me the ability to perform musical interludes and write poetry,” he told her brightly.

“That’s wonderful,” she said enthusiastically. Even though she already knew about the program she felt like he deserved to feel like he was the first person to tell her.

“Do you play any instruments? My mother plays the flute and the piano and she would like to teach me once I am able to learn.”

“You mean you can’t play anything now?” she wondered.

“Technically I can, however my artistic skills are lacking. I can merely repeat and reproduce a flawless rendition. There is no flare, or artistic expression to my playing. I sound more like a recording than a performer,” he explained.

“I see what you mean. Being able to put yourself into it is important,” she said in agreement. “I don’t play any instruments. My father was teaching me to play the guitar before he died, but I was pretty young. I just haven’t had the heart to play since.”

“I am sorry for your loss,” Data said reflexively.

“Thank you, but it was a long time ago.”

“Do you not like discussing your father because thinking of him makes you sad? Lore will not talk to me about the our other android brothers, those which I never met, because he gets sad.”

“I don’t mind talking about my father. I guess I’ve just had little reason to these days,” she confessed as she thought about Lore and his grief.

“Does your brother remind you of your father? Is it difficult for you to not know where he is?”

Wesley pulled a face. She wasn’t sure where that notion came from, but she needed to stop Data from asking more questions about her family. “No. I’m certain that he’s fine. He’s very capable of taking care of himself.”

“Better than you are? I have observed that you do better with the support of others,” Data said thoughtfully.

“Maybe I do,” she had to admit. She knew he was just being literal again and he wasn’t trying to be hurtful, but his comments felt a little hurtful.

“May I tell you a secret?” the android inquired as he leaned in closer to her.

The young woman bit her lip to keep from giggling. His change in tone was already making her feel better. 

“Yes, Data. I would love for you to tell me a secret.”

“And you will tell no one?” he asked to be sure.

“Yes, Data.”

“I am pleased that you need other people because now we have become your people,” he confided quietly.

“You’re pleased? Can you be pleased?” she teased.

“I believe I can.”

“See, I told you that you would miss me if I left,” she said with affection as she leaned into him and gave him an unexpected hug.

Data froze for a moment before he returned the gesture. 

“I want to do what I can for you, Lee. Never hesitate to ask for my assistance if and when you may require it,” he said softly as they parted again. “I will be your brother if you get lonely for the one you cannot be with right now.”

She wanted to cry, he was being so sweet. It was actually a relief that he had little to no emotions at this stage in his life, or she would be in serious danger of switching in her affections.

“You’re going to make someone very happy one day,” she said lovingly.

“Was I not able to make you happy just now?” he questioned with confusion.

Then Wesley laughed at his literal nature. Her romantic notions were lost on him. 

“Yes, Data. You made me very happy. You’re a very kind and good-natured man,” she told him.

“Lee, you are forgetting that I am not a man, I am an android,” he reminded her.

“Yes, you are a man,” she said adamantly. “And never let anyone ever tell you that you aren’t.”

“That is very considerate, however it is not true.”

“Do you believe I’m wasting my time with your brother?” She inquired a little distracted by thoughts of Lore’s odd behaviour. “If you’re not a man, neither is he.”

“Lore is...Lore is...” he faltered for a moment as he tried to find the correct phrasing. “To be honest, Lore is not a man either and though he is important to me because he is my brother I sometimes do not understand why he is important to you. He does not treat you very well.”

“He treats me well enough, I suppose.”

“You argue quite frequently and when you are not in his presence he refers to you as his ‘little woman’, or his ‘girl’. These terms are quite demeaning. My father never refers to my mother in this fashion,” Data explained.

“He’s being sentimental. I’m sure he doesn’t use those terms to demean me,” she rebutted.

“If you say so,” the young android conceded, still not quite convinced.

“Maybe one day you’ll fall in love and then you’ll understand.”

“What is it you wish me to understand? That it is alright to be cruel to someone if you love them. That does not make any logical sense.”

“Lore isn’t cruel,” she blurted with annoyance. Then when she saw the look on Data’s face she realized that he was right. Why was she defending Lore?

“Data, I’m sorry. You’re right. Lore can be cruel. What should I do?”

It was like waking from a terrible dream. Here was Data, sitting right in front of her, pointing out the obvious. Why had she let things go so far? 

“Do not argue with him,” he said plainly. “I have found to if you refuse to engage in his taunts that he will lose interest.”

That wasn’t the answer she was looking for, it was something she already knew. She was hoping for some deep insight into her demented love affair. She was hoping he would beg her to leave him, even if he didn’t have an interest in her himself. But good old childlike Data was thinking literally again.

“That’s some good advice,” she said as she tried to smile for him, but the truth was she felt like crying.

Wesley hid away in her room after showering and finding something to eat. She was feeling fragile, but refused to fall apart again. After a moment there was a knock on her door.

“Who is it?” she asked quietly.

“It’s your idiot boyfriend,” muttered Lore as he came into the room, closing the door behind him. 

She tried not to think about Robin and how she’d referred to Data as her idiot boyfriend on more than one occasion. She suddenly missed him again after all of this time and couldn’t look at Lore. She just couldn’t take whatever mean thing he was going to say next even if she deserved it right now.

“So you know how we were fighting before and you said it made you happy? I think the novelty has worn off because neither one of us is particularly happy right now,” he said followed by a heavy sigh.

“So what?” she mumbled as she stared at the tile floor.

“I didn’t want to tell you before, because it was going to be a surprise, but now I don’t think it matters anymore.”

“You were listening to us talk—me and Data—weren’t you?” Not that she should be surprised.

“Will you shut up and let me tell you something,” he snapped.

“Fine,” she huffed and sat on her bed, the bed he’d made for her.

“I was fixing up our old cabin. It was where we used to live when the lab was just a lab. I thought maybe we could live there; have our own space,” he explained with regret. “But from the sound of things you’re kind of done with me.”

“I just feel like every time I think I’ve won you over you stop trusting me, or you try to control me. It’s not healthy. I can’t be with someone like that,” she confessed. “Even the cabin sounds like an act of kindness at first, but what happens a few weeks from now, or in a few months when you’ve locked me inside and I have no one, not even your mother, or brother to talk to.”

“I would never do that,” he grumbled defensively. “I know I have a lot of bad habits and I know I need to work on my trust issues,” he began to say.

“And your anger management,” she added without thinking. Then she flinched in fear as he came closer to her and stood by the end of the bed.

“What a pair. I can’t trust you and you’re afraid of me,” he said with obvious frustration as he flexed his hands into fists a few times.

“Why are you so worked up? Did something happen?” she dared to ask as she watched him struggle to hold in any further outburst against her. “I mean, other than us having doubts about this relationship?”

Lore came to sit beside her and leaned in, putting his mouth right next to her ear. She held her breath and did her best to believe he wouldn’t hurt her.

“Father told me he lost another matrix today,” he whispered almost inaudible. “Data doesn’t know anything about it.”

Her eyes went wide as she understood what he was saying and why he was speaking so quietly, not wanting his brother to accidentally overhear him. She realized that this was why he’d been in such a strange mood and desperate for her attention.

“Lore, you could have told me,” she whispered back as she touched his face. She thought back to Dr. Soong and his comments about wanting to keep her safe. She wished he’d said something about what had happened.

“I couldn’t. I can’t believe I could tell you now,” he confessed as he broke down. “I was hoping Data would have a new brother and we could move to the cabin,” he whispered again.

She kissed his tear streaked cheek before pulling him to rest his head in her lap. He curled up, grief stricken and let her comfort him.

“You need to share these things before they eat you up inside,” she said softly. “I should know, I’ve been known to push things down until they practically destroy me.”

“I’m sorry I scared you. Sometimes I get worried that I might hurt you again. Maybe you’re better off without me,” he sobbed.

“None of that matters right now. Right now we’re together and you’re upset. Just let it out. It’s human to grieve.”

He wanted to argue that he wasn’t human and that he wished he didn’t have his painful emotions. He wanted to tell her how he wanted to be more like Data and never again have the weight of grief, or regret pressing down on him, but he didn’t. 

Lore let himself be swayed by this strange creature that he loved and lay with her until his grief subsided. In the end he decided he could live with a little pain as long as she was there to catch him when it was too much for him to take on his own.

......


	14. More than a Stomach Ache

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I think the title says it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please forgive the invented technological stuff. Hopefully it makes some kind of sense:)

Time seemed to move on quickly. Lore was much better about his behaviour. He was affectionate with Wesley and kinder to his brother. When he realized that Data may be the only brother he would ever get he decided to make an effort; although listening to him play the same piece of music over and over again on the piano was beginning to make him question his sanity.

One afternoon, Wesley got started on dinner preparations while Juliana was out in the garden with Data; and Lore was off working on the log cabin. She was chopping vegetables in the kitchen, listening to music as she worked. Her lower back had been sore all day and she was looking forward to coxing Lore into giving her a massage when he returned home.

She was humming along to something classical when she suddenly felt a funny pain in her gut and she dropped the knife from her hand. She winced and let out a slow, steadying breath as she leaned on the counter for support. She distractedly wondered if it was all fruit she’d had at breakfast, or the steak she’d had for dinner the night before. When the feeling passed after only a few seconds she went back to work without a second thought.

About twenty minutes later Dr. Soong came out of his lab to wash his hands in the kitchen sink. He turned to see why Wesley was being so unusually quiet and noticed the young woman flinch and hold her stomach.

“You alright?” he asked reluctantly, not eager to involve himself.

“Just some indigestion,” she said with a pained expression as she breathed through the pain again.

Then she straightened up and tried to look as though she was fine. There was something about living in someone else’s home that made her hesitate to admit how bad she was feeling.

When Dr. Soong noticed her wince a second time he felt compelled to help her. He still didn’t want to involve himself, however her weight gain and rounded belly were causing him to suspect that she was not suffering from simple gastric discomfort. He calmly led her away from the kitchen and brought her into his lab. Wesley was a little unsure why after all of this time the secretive scientist would allow her in there.

He ushered her to sit on a stool and tentatively put his hands over her stomach without asking permission. Then he frowned as he examined her midsection some more—man-handling her a little as he did so.

“Is this where the trouble is?” he asked as he continued to press lightly on her abdomen and watch her face. 

Wesley grunted softly and nodded. She hadn’t really had the opportunity to study him this closely before. As she breathed through another spasm she marvelled at the traces of youth still present in his features. He really did look just like his android sons.

“You probably aren’t used to all the fresh produce. Your body is accustomed to a synthesized diet,” he told her with an awkward grin. She’d been thinking the same thing but found it odd that it would still bother her after so many months.

Then he went over to his work area that was filled with different devices and doodads. He picked one up and played with some of the settings. He lifted her shirt, one of Juliana’s she’d borrowed, and placed the device directly onto her skin. She could feel it pinch slightly as it stuck itself in place. Again, he didn’t ask, nor did he explain what he was doing.

“That’s some bedside manner you have there, Dr. Soong,” she quipped, trying to dispel her nerves.

“What?” he asked distractedly, his mind elsewhere. Then he realized what she’d said and shook his head. “Sorry my girl; I’m so used to my boys. This little device will help you feel better. I use it myself from time to time.” 

Of course that wasn’t the case, he’d never used it on himself. He only hoped that she would believe him and he wouldn’t have to tell her what he really thought was wrong with her; at least not yet. He realized now that he should have paid better attention when his wife pointed out how close the girl was getting to his son.

“How long should I leave it on?” she asked as she winced again.

“At least until that pain stops,” he said frankly.

“I’ve never had indigestion like this before. Maybe I should go see a physician,” she said with concern. She could hear her mother’s voice in her head telling her that she shouldn’t be ignoring her body when it’s trying to tell her something’s wrong.

“Have you had any vomiting, or other unusual symptoms?” he asked after considering her question.

She thought about it and decided she hadn’t, which made her feel a little less stressed about it. “Just some back pain over the past few days and now the cramping. That just started,” she explained.

“If it doesn’t resolve in the next few hours, I’ll take you to the medical center myself. For now I think it’s best if you don’t move around a whole lot and keep that thing where it is,” Soong told her with a stern look of concern.

“What aren’t you telling me?” Wesley inquired as she watched the man go about his business. She wasn’t sure if he hadn’t heard her, or if he was pretending that he hadn’t when he didn’t give her an answer.

“Here you are,” Lore announced as he entered the lab. He crossed over to the young woman and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “Since when is Lee your assistant, pops?”

“She isn’t. She’s just keeping me company,” his father rebutted.

“Oh really?” the android noted with a smile. “And I thought you didn’t like her.”

“I like the girl just fine. I just didn’t trust her to be in the lab before now,” Soong corrected his son.

“And now you do?” Lore asked skeptically as he noticed the bumpy device hidden under his lover’s shirt. “What’s this?”

“Don’t mess with it, Lore. Lee wasn’t feeling well and this will do the trick,” the older man informed him.

“Hmmm, I think you’ve had another moment of senility, old man. This is for androids, not people. Unless you made her? I mean, she did show up out of no where; practically appearing out of thin air,” Lore rambled with suspicion, remembering how the colonists had thought the same thing.

“Your father didn’t make me,” Wesley said sternly. “You’ve seen me bleed.”

“Exactly. Bleed, cry, faint, eat, vomit, sleep. She does all the normal human things you don’t do,” the scientist ranted as he continued to work while keeping a sharp eye on his son.

“Then why have you stuck a positronic neural pathway enhancer on her?”

“A what?” the girl asked, confused.

“See? She doesn’t even know what it is you stuck on her,” the android added in an accusatory tone. “It’s used to help regenerate and reconnect our neural pathways, or repair damaged nerves. Synthetic nerves, old man.”

“I heard you just fine before. It will help her feel better, you just don’t understand,” his father told him with conviction.

“I’m fairly intelligent, why don’t you explain it to me,” Lore said defiantly and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Dr. Soong muttered something under his breath and Lore straightened his postured as though whatever it was affected him.

“What did he say?” Wesley questioned, since she hadn’t caught one word of it.

“Nothing. Nothing important,” Lore told her with a hint of distress. “Look, why don’t you come and lie down in your bed for awhile. It’ll be better for you to lie down, I think.”

“That’s really kind of you to offer, but maybe I should just stay here so your father can make adjustments if he needs to,” she said with uncertainty.

“No, no. You go along with Lore. He’ll take care of you. Just keep that device where it is and call me if the pain gets worse,” said Soong as he came back over to her. 

The man checked the settings one last time before he affectionately patted her face and sent them on their way.

It was odd that he was being so kind to her all of a sudden, but she thought maybe he was finally warming up to her. She reasoned that it was either that, or she was dying and he felt bad about it.

A few moments later Lore returned to his father’s side, startling the man with his unexpected close proximity.

“What is wrong with you, sneaking up on me like that?” Soong chided.

“What’s wrong with me? What is wrong with me?” Lore said full of hurt. “How could you do this? Don’t you care about anyone but yourself and your pathological need to prove your godliness?”

“That is not what this is,” his father told him firmly. “How was I supposed to know you would have intercourse with that girl?”

“Um, you designed me,” the android shot back in anger. “What did you think was going to happen?”

“It was only in the first phases. I wanted to test how long the sample would stay viable in your body. When I only found traces of it on your scan I thought it had failed and reabsorbed,” he explained. “I never once imagined you’d develop genuine feelings of affection for Lee and expel it into her.”

“What you actually mean to say is that you never believed any woman would let me touch her,” he snapped. “Do you have any idea what this, whatever this is, might do her? Or is this going to kill her? We just had a failure, I can’t deal with losing Lee too.”

“It’s an experimental hybrid of gene manipulation and synthetic DNA,” the scientist informed him. “And no, I haven’t done any field testing of it yet, but I have no reason to believe it will kill her. She’s definitely pregnant. Worst case she’ll miscarry and be none the wiser.”

Lore ran both hands through his hair. “You’re crazy!”

“I want you to have everything anyone else can have. You and Data. And that includes your own families,” Soong told him lovingly.

“Abominations, more like. So what if this works? We have to tell her at some point that she’s pregnant. She’s not expecting to be and has no reason to believe she could be,” Lore ranted with mounting distress.

“If and when the pain subsides we tell her,” his father told him calmly. “How long ago did you make love to her?”

“The first time? It was right after she got here; four months, three weeks and five days ago,” he replied, leaving out the unnecessary hours and minutes.

“Interesting,” Soong hummed.

“She is not your lab rat, old man. I love her and if anything happens to her, so help me,” Lore spat before turning abruptly and leaving the lab again.

Wesley lay dozing in her room. Lore pulled a chair over to sit near her head.

“How are you feeling?” he asked quietly, trying not to sound upset.

“Better I think,” she said with a lazy smile. “Please don’t be angry with your father. He really was just trying to help me.”

“I love you, Lee. I won’t let anything bad happen to you,” he told her as he smoothed her hair from her forehead. 

“I love you too, Lore,” she said sweetly, wanting to believe it. 

“I’m just going to step out for a minute. Don’t worry about dinner. I can send my brother in to keep you company if you would like.”

“Maybe, he was reciting Shakespeare to me the other day. It really does the trick when I’m having trouble falling asleep.”

The android smiled sadly at her. She wasn’t sure why he looked so pained. She thought maybe he was being overly concerned about her stomach ache, which she had to admit was a little endearing.

Lore kissed her forehead before he left her side and sent Data to sit in his place. He wanted to talk to both of his parents together and find out if there was anything else they were keeping from him.

......

Juliana and Data came inside with a sampling of the younger android’s precious tomatoes in a basket. Lore asked his brother to sit with Lee, but his mother sent Data to go and change first, his sleeves were dirty from working in the garden.

Once Data was busy, Lore all but dragged his mother into the lab so he could confront her along with his father.

“What’s going on? Noonien?” she inquired as she looked from her distraught looking son to her husband.

“Tell her,” Lore grumbled as he leaned on the stool that Lee had occupied a short time earlier.

“Tell me what?” Juliana asked with growing distress of her own.

“Lee is pregnant,” Soong said with regret. 

The woman slapped her husband hard across his aged face. “You bastard! How could you!?” she snapped, presuming that he was the one who’d done the deed.

“I didn’t get her pregnant, my love,” he said sternly as he rubbed his assaulted cheek. Then he saw the look his son was giving him. “Alright, I suppose technically I did,” he corrected himself and put his arm up to stop his wife from striking him again. “But I didn’t have sex with her. Lore did.”

“What?” she shot back, more confused than ever.

“Daddy-dearest decided to try something new without consulting me, or you. Because he can do whatever he wants; because he’s the brilliant scientist,” Lore rambled harshly.

“I was testing the viability of a new formula of synthetic reproductive matter, but I didn’t know my son was going to make use of it,” Soong told his wife in his defence.

“Lore got Lee pregnant?” Juliana said slowly as she began to understand. “How did he do that? Other than with your new formulated...whatever,” she said unclear as to what to call the synthetic sperm. “Lore has no sex drive and is incapable of intercourse.”

“That’s not entirely true,” her husband said with a frown.

“Oh, really? What is the truth, husband?” she demanded as she fumed at his dishonesty.

“If Lore became genuine in his affections he could make love with his chosen, committed partner. It was a solid and valid compromise,” he explained as he waited for her to react again.

Juliana paused and considered the notion. “You’re in love with Lee?” she asked, turning her attention back to her son.

“Yes, of course I am,” he told her, not understanding how this was news to either of them.

The woman sat heavily on a nearby chair as she came to terms with what all of this meant to their little family.

“How long has this been going on? I’m not stupid I’ve seen you kiss and hold each other from time to time; but when did you start making love?”

“The first week she was with us. I was so worried she would leave that something came over me. Believe me, I was even more surprised that she returned my affections,” Lore told his mother.

“Noonien, how pregnant is that poor girl?”

“What did you say boy?” the man asked his son, knowing he wouldn’t get it right.

“Four months, three weeks and five days—almost six days if you want to be exact,” he said frankly.

“She’s nearly five months pregnant and has no idea?” Juliana said in disbelief.

“You said it yourself, Mother. She never had to worry about this sort of thing before,” Lore informed her. Little did they know that Wesley literally never had to worry about such things before and had only been female for a short time before she arrived.

“Did I say that?” she wondered, not remembering their conversation as well as the android.

“Besides, I’m an android and everyone had just finished telling her how harmless and sterile I am,” Lore added with a disgruntled growl.

“Right. This is bad. This is very, very bad,” Juliana rambled as she began shaking her head.

“Or it’s amazing. That young woman is carrying the first ever conceived, viable example of technology merged with the human genome.” Soong beamed with pride.

“Noonien, genetic manipulation has been banned and outlawed in most civil regions of space,” his wife reminded him. “You’ve barely scratched the surface of proving the importance and longevity of your two android sons. I hardly think adding this controversial hybrid to your plate is a good idea.”

“If it lives,” said Lore with dismay. “If she lives.”

“Lee will be fine,” his father told him again.

“What’s wrong with Lee?” Juliana wanted to know. She stood up and started towards the door. “Noonien?”

“Her body may have begun rejecting the fetus. I placed a device on her to try to speed up the development process of the synthetic components so that if she delivers prior to her due date it might have a fighting chance at survival,” he explained.

“And what does she think is wrong with her, presuming she’s had some form of discomfort with all of this?”

“Indigestion,” Soong informed her with obvious guilt.

“Dear lord, you have to tell her the truth before her water breaks and she goes into full on labour,” Juliana said with exasperation.

“I’ll tell her,” Lore said with a sigh. “I did this to her, I’ll tell her.” 

.....


	15. In Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An important decision is made.

The android moved past his mother and went out to the main part of their home. He stopped just outside of his lover’s room and listened as Data was reciting ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.

“‘If we shadows have offended,  
Think but this, and all is mended:  
That you have but slumbered here  
While these visions did appear.  
And this weak and idle theme,  
No more yielding but a dream,’”

“Data, that’s Robin Goodfellow, right?” he heard Lee ask.

“Yes, that is correct, or Puck as he is also known,” replied his brother.

“Robin is the name of my best friend. I miss her so much,” she lamented.

“Perhaps she can come and visit you, or you may journey and visit her,” the young android suggested.

“No. She’s probably a new mom by now and can’t be bothered. It’s just too difficult a journey,” she told him sadly; though the journey wasn’t just difficult, it was impossible.

“I understand. Though I have been meaning to ask you if your husband misses you, or you him,” he asked innocently.

Lore pulled a face and was dying to know why his brother would ask such an obtuse question.

“My husband? I’m not married,” she told him adamantly as she adjusted her pillows and sat up a little. “Why would you think that; because I told Lore I was in love with someone else before I met him?”

“Yes and you are quite obviously with child. It would stand to reason that you became pregnant before your arrival. Therefore I believed you to have a husband,” he concluded with grin.

Leave it to his frank and literal brother to blurt something like that without consideration for her feelings.

“I’m what?” she retorted, believing he was mistaken.

“Pregnant; knocked up; you have a bun in the oven; you are expecting,” Data listed with enthusiasm.

Lore decided that he should stop him from making her feel any worse than she already did.

“Hey, little brother,” he said as he stuck his head into the room. “Father needs you to join him in the lab.”

“Of course. It was good of you to allow me to share your company and recite to you, Lee. I hope you feel better soon,” Data told her as he took his leave.

“Bye, Data,” she said softly as she watched him go. “Can you believe him? He thinks I’m so bloated in the middle that I must be pregnant,” she told Lore with a laugh.

“Lee, I have to tell you something and you might find it upsetting,” he said softly as he sat down next to her.

“Okay, what is it?”

“First, how are you feeling?”

“Much better actually. I can probably take this thing off now,” she told him as she looked down at the device peeking out from under her shirt.

“I think you should keep it on,” he told her with a pained smile.

“What’s going on?” she asked him as she fixed him with a look of suspicion.

“Please just listen carefully before you react,” he instructed thinking of his mother and her outbursts. She nodded slowly and he braced himself. She may not like him very much when he was done explaining himself.

“Lee...” But couldn’t tell her, even though he knew he had to and he said that he would.

“Lore..?” she said playfully as she crossed her legs at the ankles.

“Data’s not wrong. You do have a bun in the oven and it’s my fault, but I didn’t know until today. I swear to you I had no idea.” 

Wesley took a moment to digest what he was telling her. His words were fast and he sounded so completely distraught. 

“So your lunatic creator put some of his spunk in you and now I’m pregnant?” she questioned with annoyance. 

“No. Not exactly. You see it’s not exactly human,” he said slowly, hoping she would understand what he meant.

“What are you talking about?” Being fertilized by the scientist’s bizarre gift of DNA was one thing, but she could feel her panic rise when he said ‘not exactly human’. She was done with being special and Travellers and Q. She didn’t want anything weird, or new, or frightening.

“Honestly, I’m not entirely sure. It’s some kind of hybrid of human and synthetic life,” he confessed.

“Inside of me? I have some experimental Borg-type of thing inside of me?” she blurted without thinking. She forgot that no one in this time would know what a Borg drone was.

“I’m not sure that I would call it a cyborg, but I suppose it could be,” he reasoned.

“Of course it could be,” she groaned with dismay. “I should have known better. I should have known that there was more to the cosmic joke than getting stuck here,” she ranted.

“Lee, it’s going to be okay,” he told her, even if he wasn’t sure he believed it himself.

“Okay? It’s going to be okay?” she said sarcastically as she suddenly stood and straightened her attire. “Look at me Lore! I’m a joke. I’m not even supposed to be here. Not in this time, not in this place...I shouldn’t even be alive. I died...twice,” she told him, holding up her fingers for emphasis. “I’m some messed up, gender confused, left-overs that someone else didn’t want anymore!”

“Um, Lee, I understand that you’re upset, but I have no idea what you’re talking about. You’re not making a whole lot of sense,” Lore told her as he came around to stand beside her. “Why don’t you lie down before you get any more worked up.”

“I’m sorry Lore; I know that you love me, but you have no idea who I am,” she told him as she let him guide her to sit again.

“Why don’t you tell me, then? It might make us both feel better,” he said as he started to rub her back in that comforting way.

Wesley looked into his yellow-gold eyes and she was ready to tell him everything. Only she couldn’t. It hurt just to think of confessing how she’d known him before, in another life. How could she tell him that he was a monster. She couldn’t think of how to tell him everything else without telling him about himself. So she remained silent and put both of her hands on her stomach, on either side of the device, and started to cry.

“It’s going to be alright. We’ll take care of you. I swear we aren’t some unfeeling evil cult trying to use you for our weird breeding practices,” he rambled trying to find a way to calm her fears.

She laughed a little through her tears at his odd sense of humour, but then started sobbing even harder.

“No, no, no,” Lore chanted as he held her tightly and started to rock her. “Lee, don’t cry. What’s wrong.”

“I’m in love you with,” she sobbed, beside herself.

“And that’s so terrible?”

“Yes, it’s horrible,” she told him as she buried her face in his chest. He didn’t understand why her admission was upsetting her and held her just as firmly.

Juliana knocked softly on the door frame. She came in the room and handed her son a cup of one of her herbal remedies. “I couldn’t help but overhear how distressed Lee was. I brought her something to help calm her.”

“No, I don’t want to drink that,” Wesley said as she peaked out to look at what she’d brought.

“It will help, I promise. I added something that might calm the spasms you’ve been having,” the older woman explained.

Wesley reluctantly drank it down, knowing it was more or less the same concoction she’d had on her second night; the night she’d thought she was home and Lore was Data. The night she’d invited him into bed with her.

She began to calm down quite quickly, feeling the drowsy effects of the drink. Lore helped her to lie down and wiped the wet tears from her face.

“It’s going to be alright,” Lore told her again.

Wesley knew was dreaming. She must have been. She was out in the side garden with the warm afternoon sun shining on her face. She was kneeling in the dirt, working when she looked over to her right. Lore was standing close by and he was swinging a little girl in his arms. She giggled with delight as he tossed her lightly in the air. 

When he put her down, the toddler ran towards their home and disappeared around the side of the rock face. Wesley made a face at the android and got up to quickly to follow the girl. She came around just in time to see her go into the small entryway. 

Once inside, she followed her back to her room. The little girl giggled and smiled. Wesley picked her up and kissed her chubby little cheeks affectionately. It was then that she realized that the little one had something in her hand. She used her free hand to open the girl’s little fingers. It was her comm badge—the one that had brought her there in the first place.

Not thinking there was a problem she let the girl hold onto it, but when she closed her hand over it again there was a bright flash. When Wesley was finally able to focus she realized they weren’t in their home any longer, but on the Enterprise. She stared at Spot sitting expectantly on Data’s desk; the little girl still in her arms.

“Lore?” she called instinctively as the panic bubbled in her chest. The little girl clung to her and started to cry.

“Lore!” she called again, more desperate than the first time.

“Lee?”

Wesley started to stir. She was calling Lore’s name in her sleep. 

“Lee,” he said again, trying to calm her. “Lee, I’m right here.”

The young woman finally opened her eyes and looked up at him. Her brow was wet with sweat and she looked lost for a moment.

“We left you,” she cried. “It was an accident,” she told him as she reached out for him.

Lore scooped her up onto his arms and held her against him. “Hush, now. It was just a bad dream. You’re home safe and everyone’s here,” he told her.

Wesley held onto him like her life depended on it. She’d never imagined that his words could ring so true to her. This was her home now and she had no desire to leave it, or him. For the first time in her life she didn’t want to run away.

“I love you,” she muttered into his shoulder.

“I know, you do,” he soothed.

“I want to do this. I’m going to protect her,” she told him with conviction.

“Her?” he asked a little unsure.

“The baby...I want to have the baby,” she clarified. She had no reason to believe the dream was prophetic; it was more likely the herbs that made her hallucinate than anything else. 

“That’s good to here. I really thought you were going want to get rid of it,” he said overcome with emotion.

“Lore, I want you to reach under the bed. I placed a small box on the frame in the corner by the headboard,” she told him.

The android gave her a curious look, but did as she asked. He pulled out the little wooden box and opened it. It was the broach she’d been wearing the first time he saw her.

“What do you want me to do with it?” he asked.

“I want you to destroy it, but don’t touch it,” she instructed. 

She knew that logically it had no ability to transport anyone anywhere; especially without the proper communication link. But she was done taking chances. She didn’t need it anymore and she didn’t want to risk there being any truth to her dream.

“I’ll take care of it as soon as you’re settled again. First, I think you could use some fresh bedding. You’re soaked,” he said as he crinkled his nose in mild disgust.

Wesley sat forward all of a sudden to feel between her legs. She was more than a little relieved to find that she was wet from perspiration alone and her water hadn’t broken.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said apologetically after he realized what she’d thought he was implying.

“It’s okay, I forgive you,” she sighed with relief.

“Do you? Do you forgive me?” he asked inferring to more than his poor choice of words.

“Yes, Lore. I forgive you,” she told him and really meant it. Though to her it felt like she was forgiving him for more than just his part in knocking her up. She felt like she was forgiving him for being the villain he would hopefully never become.

The android moved quickly and sat her in a chair as he changed her sheets. Then he helped her into something looser and drier to sleep in. He was about to move away again when she motioned for him to join her, lifting the covers.

He couldn’t refuse her and removed most of his clothes before getting in. 

“If you get too warm I can run my body temperature lower and help you stay cool,” he told her with a grin.

“I didn’t know you could that,” she said with surprise.

“I’m full of fun little quirks,” he told her and then he kissed her. 

They turned over on their sides and he spooned her, careful not to put the full weight of his arm on her. Wesley’s heart ached a little as she recalled her first night in bed with Data and how he’d given her a whole commentary on spooning. Lore just did it naturally she guessed. 

Although they’d been very frequent in their sexual exploits, the android hadn’t slept in bed with her all that much since he didn’t actually sleep. This was a nice change, she felt, to have someone in bed because they wanted to keep her company, but not because she needed protecting.

.....


	16. Truth has Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wesley tells Lore a little more about herself, but he doesn’t like what she has to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for mildly graphic medical situations. Also, I’m not a medical professional so please be forgiving:)

Six weeks went by and the positronic enhancer stayed on Wesley’s slowly expanding middle; except of course when she bathed. The idea that there was an actual living thing inside of her became all the more real the first time she felt the baby move. She was fairly certain that she wouldn’t have thought that was indigestion...at least ninety percent anyways.

Dr. Soong wanted to keep a close eye on her progress, so he was allowing her into the lab. He would set her up with his notes—dictated and scribbled in note books—and she would organize and enter them into his digital logs. It was a glorified secretarial job, but it gave her something to do now that she was being encouraged to stay off of her feet as much as possible.

It also allowed her to familiarize herself with Dr. Soong’s research and practical schematics of how his synthetic life actually functioned. It was something she’d been wanting to learn about for a while, but never had the chance to get into on the Enterprise. Now she could actually thumb through his original notations. She did her best to memorize what she could in case she ever saw Geordi again because she knew he’d have questions.

Lore on the other hand, was reading anything and everything about caring for babies and raising children. However, every time he brought the subject up Wesley felt her blood pressure rise and he would have to stop talking. She knew she wanted to go through with this whole crazy thing, but it still scared her to think of what came next when the baby was born and she was meant to be it’s mother. So she distracted herself with work and prayed that even though she’d been born male some maternal instinct might kick in due to her current female brain chemistry.

Lore walked by his pregnant partner and looked over her shoulder. She recognized the look of boredom on his face and waited for him to start making trouble.

“You still don’t want to send a message out to anyone?” Lore asked her for the umpteenth time.

“Stop asking her that, son. She said she doesn’t want to. End of story,” Soong grumbled at his elder android son.

“You just like that she’s not speaking to anyone. Keeping all your secrets,” Lore muttered back with annoyance.

“Lore, it’s fine. Besides, your father’s right. This isn’t exactly something that should be broadcast to the far reaches of the galaxy,” Wesley told him, taking his father’s side.

“I have finished running my self diagnostics, Father.” Data announced from where he was hooked up to his father’s computer through the interface in his head. Dr. Soong muttered something and went over to the younger android to check his progress.

“I still can’t get over how that doesn’t bother you,” Lore noted as he looked from his brother back to his lover.

“What?” she asked distractedly. Then she looked over at Data and shrugged. It was true that she had only seem him like that a few times in her life, but it wasn’t really that jarring anymore. “Do you ever get to do that?”

“Me? Nah. I’m old school. I take my whole head off and stick it on the machine,” he told her with a smirk.

“Please tell me you’re kidding,” she winced. 

“What, that imagery bothers you, but seeing Humpty Dumpty with his egg cracked open is just another day in the Soong lab?” he said indignantly.

She gave him another shrug of her shoulders. She really didn’t see the big deal.

Lore continued to pace back and forth, earning him another disgruntled look from his father.

“Lore, maybe you can go help your mother for a while,” the man told him.

“Ugh, I don’t want to. She’s tweaking that code for Data’s arts and crafts program. If I volunteer to help her she’ll have me painting, or playing the violin,” he moaned.

“Then what do you want to do?” his father inquired.

“Nothing. I’m fine just hanging around, keeping an eye on things,” he said as he swung his arms in a way that looked forced and far from casual.

“Lore, just go help, Juliana. I’m fine,” Wesley told him with a good natured chuckle.

“You’re sure? You’re not just saying that?”

“I’m not just saying it...just like I wasn’t this morning; or yesterday; or the day before that,” she told him as if to prove her point.

“Okay, I’ve got it. I’ll go,” he said finally surrendering to their want to be rid of his restless energy.

Lore was about to leave when he doubled back and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She giggled at his need to make sure she knew how much he loved her at all times.

Later, Wesley went looking for him. Lore was outside in the garden, watering the vegetables. She knew that she shouldn’t be bending over, so she reached out a foot and nudged his bottom.

“Hey,” he cried with indignation. “That is my person ass you’re assaulting.”

“Oh really? I thought your ass was mine,” she shot back without missing a beat.

“Why do you have to say cute shit like that when you know I can’t ravish you?” he complained, lighthearted.

“Lore, you could probably get away with ravishing me a little,” she told him with a mischievous grin.

“Nope. No can do. My dirty desires got us into this mess and I’ll be damned if they make matters worse,” he said with a firm shake of his head.

“Fine, but you owe me,” she said with a laugh.

“I look forward to serving your every whim,” he said with a laugh of his own. Then his face went serious again. “I can’t stop thinking about what you said a few weeks ago. How you didn’t belong in this time. What did you mean by that?”

The young woman had been so distraught at the time that she couldn’t remember what she’d told him, but she felt she owed him some form of explanation. “Lore, I want you to promise me something first before I tell you what I meant.”

The android shut the off hose and put it down. She could see that she had his full attention. “What do you need me to promise, my love?”

She couldn’t help but smile at his words. “I need you to promise that if anything were to ever happen to me, or if I disappeared without warning that you would continue to be a good and loving man,” she told him ominously.

Lore looked stricken and she could tell that he didn’t like what she was saying. “What are you talking about?”

Wesley closed the distance between them and took his hand. “If I’m gone one day, or if I die in childbirth,” she began to say, but he pulled away and shook his head.

“No. Don’t talk like that. You’re going to be fine,” he said, almost angry that she could even make the suggestion.

“Lore, just promise me that you’ll always remember how much we love each other and if you outlive me you’ll try to let yourself love again one day. It’s not fair, but it’s inevitable. You’re an android and I’m not,” she explained sadly.

“Fine, I promise. I’ll endeavour to be a good man for you and our child,” he told her reluctantly.

“Please mean it, Lore. It’s so important that you believe in yourself the way I do,” she insisted.

“Okay, I do...I will,” he said softly before kissing her lovingly. When they parted he looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to tell him what he wanted to know.

“I’m not from here,” she confessed. “Not just Omicron Theta, or this region of space. I actually won’t be born for another fourteen years, or so.”

“What? How can that be?” he questioned with obvious confusion.

“It’s complicated. I broke a few temporal laws in coming here and I think that’s why I got stuck in the first place,” she explained with weak smile.

She watched Lore’s expression as he contemplated her confession. He pulled away from her and stepped back. “That night when you said my name...I thought you were just recognizing my presence.”

“What are you talking about?” It was her turn to be confused.

“I asked you who had hurt you and in your sleep you said my name,” he clarified, a look of horror falling across his golden features.

“No, it wasn’t you,” she said quickly, countering his mislaid assumptions. In a way she wasn’t lying. It hadn’t been him. This version of him could never do to her what that one had.

“Then look me in the eye and tell me that you never knew me before you found me by the water that day,” he demanded with a heartbreaking quiver in his voice.

“I never knew you before that day,” she desperately reassured him. “Believe me when I tell you that I have never known a more passionate, loving, intelligent man.”

“I don’t believe you,” Lore admitted with self-loathing. “Before I met you I was ready to burn this whole colony. I wanted to destroy all of humanity and it’s false promises of love and acceptance.”

“No...that’s not true,” she said as a sob escaped her. 

“Then tell me who hurt you and what they did to you,” he pleaded, needing to know it wasn’t him.

“It doesn’t matter now. You’ve made me see that it’s all behind me,” she told him with her whole heart.

“How can I trust you? How can I trust anything that comes out of your deceitful mouth?” he spat with distain as he turned to walk away from her.

She couldn’t believe how quickly he’d gone from loving her to hating her. She couldn’t breathe, she was so overcome with despair. Then something felt very wrong.

“Lore!” she cried loudly causing him to turn back to her. 

When they’d started their conversation he’d been afraid to lavish her with affection in case it would harm her, but it was his cruel words that damaged her instead. Wesley was standing, clutching her stomach, her inner thighs suddenly wet.

“No,” he breathed as he ran over to her, his distrust and anger instantly forgotten. 

The android picked her up and carried her quickly into the compound. He called out to anyone who could hear him as he gently laid her on her bed. His lover was unconscious and he couldn’t rouse her. Within moments Juliana was at his side.

“What happened?” she asked as she examined the girl.

“We were arguing. It was stupid. I am so stupid,” he said disparagingly. 

Juliana took his hand and looked at his palm. It was red with blood.

“Go fetch my medical kit. Then I want you to bring the buggy around. It if I can’t stop the bleeding we’ll need to get Lee to the medical center,” she told him sternly.

Lore moved quickly and did as she asked. His father saw him run out the front door and came into the room to see what the fuss was about.

“What happened?” the man asked his wife with concern.

“You’re damn ambitions,” she replied as she opened her kit. “Help me get her pants off.”

Dr. Soong didn’t argue and gently removed the clothing from the bottom half of her body, including her shoes and socks.

He used some of her bedding to wipe away some of the blood so that his wife could get a better look at what was happening.

“Where’s Data?” she asked distractedly as she got between the younger woman’s legs.

“I already tucked him in for the night. It’s for the best. Just tell me what you need,” he said with urgency.

“Sit behind me and hold the light,” she told him as she passed a small flashlight to him.

She could see the baby’s head was crowning, but wasn’t able to get the expectant mother to push since she was still unconscious.

Lore came and took the light from his father. “You need to help her old man. I’m too jumpy and I don’t want to hurt her by accident.”

Juliana got a laser scalpel out of her kit. “Noonien, I’m going to try pull the baby out. I need you to massage her abdomen to see if you can stimulate her to push.”

The scientist didn’t think that would work, so he stole something out of his wife’s emergency medical kit and stuck it in the young woman’s arm.

“What did you do?” Lore questioned full of fear.

“Adrenalin,” his father replied, unapologetically.

“Oh god!” Wesley cried as she suddenly opened her eyes to the full onslaught of labour pain.

“Lee, you need to bare down,” Soong told her as her took her hand. 

“What?” she said still disoriented.

“You’re in labour and that baby needs to come out before it kills you. Sorry but that’s the truth,” he told her frankly.

Another contraction hit her and she tried to do as he asked. Lore dropped the light and lifted her feet so that she could press down into his palms as though she was in stirrups. 

Wesley pushed with everything she had, fuelled by the adrenaline coursing through her body. In a way it was to her benefit that she’d only been six and half months along. The tiny, underweight infant was quickly delivered. Juliana wrapped it in a blanket and handed it to Lore before she turned her attention back onto the girl.

Dr. Soong gave his wife a curious look and stole the child from his son. He left the room without telling them where he was going.

Lore no longer cared. He wanted his lover to recover. “Can you stop the bleeding?”

“No. I don’t think so,” his mother confessed at a loss. 

Her son pulled the regenerative device off of Wesley’s stomach and gathered her up in his arms, wrapping her in a blanket in case she went into shock.

“What are you doing?” she asked as she felt him lift her off the bed. 

“We have to take you to get help,” he told her quietly hoping not to frighten her.

“What about the baby?” she said tearfully.

“We can’t help it right now. We have to save you,” he said with conviction.

Then her world went black again.

......


	17. Silver Linings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The family reunites after Wesley spends some time at the medical center.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for mention of miscarriage/child loss

When Wesley finally came around she saw a red-headed woman by her bedside. In her delirious state she thought she was her mother.

“Mom, you won’t believe the strange dream I had,” she muttered, half asleep.

“Hush, now. You can tell me about it later,” Juliana soothed. She knew the girl was out of the woods, but she was still quite pale and the sedation she’d received was more than likely muddling her thinking.

“You won’t believe it. I had a baby...me. I gave birth,” she giggled. “I guess finding out that Robin was pregnant really messed me up,” she continued.

“Poor thing, you don’t remember,” the older woman said sadly as she held onto the girl’s hand.

“This dream was so weird. I was a woman and I was basically married to Lore. Not Data, but Lore,” she rambled. “I don’t know what that means, but I don’t think Data will be very happy. Maybe I won’t tell him.”

“Data?” Juliana repeated, unsure of why she would think Data would so concerned about her relationship, even in her haze. 

“I see the way he looks at me. Deanna told me she sees it too,” she murmured. “I don’t like men, but Data’s so special.”

“Why don’t you like men?” Juliana couldn’t help but ask.

“I’m not talking about homosexual sex with my mother. I don’t care if you are a doctor, it’s not happening,” she said adamantly as she tried to sit up, but failed.

“You mean that you’re a man?” the redhead inquired, intrigued by the young woman’s delirium.

“I know, I know. I will always be your little boy,” she said with a sigh as she fell back asleep.

“That was very bizarre,” Juliana said to herself, glad that no one else had been in the room.

A few hours later the woman woke again. This time she was more aware of her surroundings, the drugs she’d been given were wearing off. She could tell that she wasn’t at home and she wasn’t in her own bed. The room felt sterile and cold. Her entire body hurt, but most of her discomfort was radiating from middle. Then she remembered; she’d been in labour. 

“Juliana?” she whispered as she recognized the female scientist sitting beside her.

“Lee, you’re awake,” the older woman replied with a sad sort of smile. “How do you feel?”

“Like I died again,” Wesley grumbled all too honestly.

“I hope that’s just an expression,” she said with a frown. “You lost a lot of blood, but we were able to get you to the medical center; that’s where we are right now. You’re going to be fine.”

“Where’s Lore? What happened to the baby?” the younger woman asked with mounting distress.

“Lore is home. He had to get cleaned up,” Julian told her. They both knew that the sight of his bloodied, dishevelled appearance wasn’t going to do anyone any good. “The child was stillborn,” she added, trying to stay strong for the both of them.

Wesley nodded numbly. She didn’t cry. She felt too detached from the whole thing to really understand what was happening. She knew it would be awful when it finally hit her and she wasn’t looking forward to it.

The doctor came to check on her and take her vitals. Wesley wanted to thank her for saving her life, but she didn’t honestly feel like it was something she was grateful for at the moment.

“I want to keep you here over-night, just to be sure there are no further complications,” said Dr. Marietta Ferris as she gave her another injection for pain. “If you would like I can refer you to a grief counsellor. I can’t begin to imagine how you might be feeling after such a tragic loss.”

“No thank you,” she mumbled.

Juliana seemed to know the doctor and she walked with her towards the doorway. “Thank you for everything, Marni. I’ll take the information on Lee’s behalf in case she changes her mind.”

“How long has she been working with you, Juliana?” Dr. Ferris inquired out fo curiosity.

“Just this past season,” the other woman replied casually, careful to bend the truth just enough to protect everyone. “Poor dear didn’t even know she was pregnant, or if she did she was in denial. We suspect that she left a fairly bad situation, if you know what I mean.”

“I do. It’s sad to see that even in these enlightened times domestic abuse still happens,” Marni said with a frown as she looked back at her patient with pity. “Your androids aren’t causing her any trouble I hope.”

“No, not in the least,” Juliana assured her, though slightly offended that her friend could make such a suggestion. “They all get along well.”

“That’s good. I worry sometimes about you out there alone with just your husband and his work. I’m happy to know that Lee is there to keep you company.”

“The androids are my work as well, Marni,” she reminded her friend sharply, even though they were more like her family than her work. “I know artificial life isn’t your specialty, but it is mine.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that you were some put upon housewife, though I suppose maybe it did sound that way,” Marni added with regret. “You’re just so isolated, we only see you from time to time in town.”

“That speaks more to how busy we.”

“Of course.” The doctor turned to go, but stopped. “I should be able to release Lee tomorrow after I recheck her. Then I would like her to return in a week or two to be sure she’s still improving. I’ll bring that information for the counsellor.”

Once the doctor left Juliana rejoined the young woman at her bedside. 

“You know her?” Wesley asked weakly as she looked to the door.

“Marni? Yes. Our parents know each other. I used to babysit her once upon a time,” Juliana said with a chuckle.

“Thank you for bringing me here,” the girl said with a sad smile.

“You can thank Lore when you see him. He was the one who made sure you got here in time.”

Her heart felt a little sick that she’d lost the baby. In many ways it felt as though it belonged to all of them and not just her since it had been a part of their collaborative work. She wasn’t sure that she would be able to face Lore let alone Dr. Soong when she went back home with Juliana.

By mid-day the next day she was home again. They may have been a remote colony, but they had state of the art medical care. She wondered if she hadn’t given into paranoia and actually gone for prenatal care that perhaps her baby might have lived. Not that having such thoughts now would be productive, or helpful.

Lore arrived to pick them up from the centre in the all-terrain bug. He didn’t say much and kept looking at both women in a conspicuous way. Wesley caught the hint of a smile pull at the corner of the android’s mouth. She knew that he was probably relieved that she was healthy and coming home, but his constant happy undertones were starting to piss her off.

“What Lore? Why the fuck are you so happy?” Wesley snapped as they were getting out of the vehicle once they’d reached their homestead.

“Don’t be angry,” he said quietly and then tried to kiss her. She pulled out of his reach and shot him a look.

“No offence, but I can’t look at you right now,” she said harshly before darting inside.

“She just hasn’t grieved yet, Lore. She needs some time,” his mother told him knowingly.

The android smiled. “She doesn’t need to grieve, Mother. Your husband is a genius,” he told her with unrestrained excitement.

“You mean?” Juliana sputtered as she lost her words. Lore nodded with enthusiasm and his mother ran into their home to find her husband.

Dr. Soong was sitting in his lab next to a small domed, incubator looking machine. He had his right hand through a slot and his index finger was tightly encircled by the tiniest of fingers. 

“Noonien,” the woman gasped causing her husband to turn around. 

“Isn’t she a marvel, Juliana?” he hummed. 

“Why didn’t you send word? How could you let us believe she’d died?” his wife asked, obvious hurt, as she came to lean on his shoulders for support. 

“I wanted to, my love, but then we would have had those doctors poking and prodding her,” he explained as he took her hand with his unoccupied one. “She’s more synthetic than human.”

“That’s fascinating,” she whispered as she looked at the infant through the clear covering. Other than her size, the baby looked human and was perfectly formed. She appeared to be functioning on her own. There was no respirator, or heart monitor. She looked healthy and strong. 

“Where’s Data? I haven’t seen him since we arrived home,” she inquired with concern.

“I left the boy in his dormant state. I wanted to be sure all was well before I brought him back online. I didn’t want to risk him becoming overwhelmed by the whole thing,” he confessed. 

His wife understood her husband’s concerns. The possible loss of not just the baby, but also his friend may have been too much for the young android.

“You did the right thing, but I think that maybe we should wake him up again. He’s lost almost a full day as it is,” Juliana said expressing her gratitude.

“I will, I will, but first where is Lee?” Soong asked as he looked to Juliana again. “A small percent of her is still organic and needs nourishment. Zoe needs her mother.”

“Zoe?” Juliana repeated with a grin. 

“The boy picked it out. Thought it was fitting since nothing comes after zed and no synthetic life form I could ever design would surpass her,” he explained whimsically. “Personally I think he picked it because he thought Lee would like it.”

Juliana kissed her husband lovingly and went out to find Wesley to tell her the news that she was a new mother after all. When she came to the girl’s room she found her son standing outside of the door. It appeared that she’d locked him out somehow and he was starting to loose his good mood.

“Talk to her, maybe she’ll listen to you,” he pleaded as his mother approached the door.

“Lee, I don’t know what Lore told you, but I really think you should come out,” Juliana said loudly. “What did you tell her?” she asked her son.

“That there was something in the lab that needed her attention,” he replied weakly. “Then she gave me the finger and jammed a chair up against the other side of the door handle.”

“You know for all of your vast intelligence you can be so stupid sometimes,” she chided with a shake of her head. Lore could only shrug in response, in this instance she wasn’t wrong.

“Lee, your little girl didn’t die like we thought. She’s waiting for you,” the woman said with importance.

There was a noise behind the door from the chair being moved and then it opened.

“You’d better not be lying to me,” Wesley said with a frown as she tried to dry her eyes.

“I’m not, dear girl.”

“Why didn’t you just say that before?” she asked Lore quite harshly as she pushed past him.

Then Wesley walked away before he could say anything. She entered the lab to find Dr. Soong holding a small bundle in his arms. Her heart melted as she realized that the tiny infant was moving and cooing in ways that newborns did.

“Give her to me, please,” she said softly with outstretched arms. Being a mother terrified her for the short time that she was aware of her pregnancy, but now that they baby was here and all hers, she didn’t hesitate. “Hello,” she whispered softly as she took the baby in her arms.

“Zoe,” said Soong, letting her know the name she’d already been given.

Wesley gave the man a odd look and then softened again as she continued her love affair with the infant. “Hello, Zoe.”

“She needs feeding. I’ll just step out and let you go to it,” he said awkwardly, feeling uncomfortable at the prospect of watching her breastfeed.

The scientist passed his son as he entered the lab. They had mirrored grins on their faces. 

Lore came up behind Wesley and draped a receiving blanket over her shoulder. She beamed up at him and then started to hand him the newborn.

“Hold her while I get my top off. It’s too constricting to do this properly,” she told him. He eagerly obeyed and held his daughter in his arms. She could tell from his body language that this wasn’t his first time holding her and she felt a little jealous.

Once Wesley was ready, the android handed Zoe back to her mother. “Now don’t get discouraged if she does latch on right away,” he began to say, but his concerns were short-lived as the infant began to suckle almost instantly. “Huh.”

“This is so weird,” Wesley giggled as she touched the dark downy fluff on the baby’s head. “But weird in an amazing, very cool way,” she added a little more seriously. She was starting to feel more connected to her body and found a new appreciation for the things it could do.

“I think she likes you,” he teased as he kissed the woman’s cheek. 

“I’m sorry I was so mean to you earlier,” she apologized for bad behaviour.

“You had your reasons,” he said in her defence. “I’m sorry I made you go into labour,” he added with guilt of his own.

“We just had a fight. It’s nothing,” she told him distractedly as she continued to focus her attention on the tiny face that was watching her.

“So you don’t think I’m a monster?” 

Wesley wasn’t sure if he meant because he almost caused her to lose the baby, or because of what he believed to be true from their argument the day before. Either way her answer was the same.

“No, my love, you’re not a monster,” she said lovingly and then pulled him down to her for a proper kiss on the lips. “Why Zoe?” she asked when they parted.

“It goes with Father’s A to Z thing. Plus it’s a variation on ‘Eve’. The name Eve means life and she’s kind of a new life form,” he rambled, suddenly unsure if she would want to change it.

“I like it,” she said softly. 

The tiny infant didn’t feed for long since her stomach was also tiny. Lore showed Wesley how to turn the newborn over and lightly rub her back to to burp her. Zoe may be mostly synthetic, but he didn’t want to test out if colic would still be a concern the hard way.

The young woman watched Lore’s face with fascination as he gently rubbed little circles on his daughter’s tiny back. She’d never imagined she could see anyone so content and full of love; and she clearly never believed this person could be Lore.

She was starting to believe her streak of bad luck was over and that maybe they could finally be the family they were meant to be.

......

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise there will be some fluff after this to balance out the trauma :)


	18. Uncle Data

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Please enjoy some fluff

Data watched Zoe from across the room. She was lying on the floor of the main living area with her mother on a quilt. Wesley had been trying to get the young android to interact with his niece for several days, but he continued to keep his distance.

“Data, I really need to stand and walk around a little. Couldn’t you just sit near her for a few minutes?” she asked with dismay, hoping he wouldn’t refuse this time.

“I will go and find Lore. He will be better able to assist you,” Data told her as he left her sight in search of his brother.

Wesley rolled her eyes at his continued insecurities. She was pretty sure that the Data she knew would have been far too intrigued to pass up an invitation to get involved with an infant, especially one that was related to him.

Data found Lore in the lab. He was looking at his face in the reflective surface of one of the monitors. As he approached his brother, he realized why Lore was studying himself.

“Your twitch is back,” Data stated plainly.

“No shit, Sherlock,” Lore grumbled. “It must be all the stress from worrying about Zoe.”

“Why are you worried about Zoe?” the younger android asked with curiosity. “I have not touched her, nor will I go near her. I understand how vulnerable and delicate she is.”

“Data, you need to relax. You won’t hurt her,” Lore said firmly as his upper cheek muscle made him wink several times without his consent. “When is Father coming home?”

“Our parents are due home by dinner time. That is in approximately two point three hours,” Data informed him. 

“Well, I can’t let Lee see me like this,” his older brother lamented.

“Why not? I told her about your affectation months ago. It did not seem to deter her from your relationship,” he said adamantly as though he was being helpful.

“You told Lee that I have a twitch?”

“I informed her that you have had on occasion and that it can be corrected,” Data clarified.

“Fine, whatever. She didn’t care?” Lore said feeling deflated in his reason for hiding out.

“Not particularly,” his brother said with honesty. “Your wife needs you to help with your daughter.”

Lore gave the other android a dubious look. “Lee isn’t technically my wife.”

“But she is the mother of your child.”

“Yes.”

“Then she should be your wife,” Data said still unmoved to think differently.

“Okay morality police, I’ll take your concerns under advisement,” he rebutted with a chuckle as he winked again.

“Whomever she is to you, she needs your assistance.”

“Data you are quite the character,” Lore said to himself as he watched this brother leave the lab.

Wesley came into the lab a few minutes later, the baby secured in a sling around her front. She came up beside her lover, but he turned away from her abruptly.

“Don’t look at me,” he said with embarrassment.

“What’s wrong?” she asked unsure of why he could suddenly be so vain.

Reluctantly he turned towards her and gestured to his left eye as it involuntarily winked at her.

“Oh,” she said with understanding. She hadn’t seen that twitch since they’d first met—the first time. “You can fix it right?”

“Yes, well I could if I knew which one of these damned doodads did what,” he countered with frustration. “I thought you had organized everything.”

The young woman smiled and patted his shoulder. “I did, but it would seem that your father thrives in chaos,” she commented as she scoured through the mess of instruments. “This one,” she told him as she handed him a tool.

Lore looked at the item with uncertainty and then sighed. He used the monitor again to look at his reflection while he applied the thing to his muscle spasm. Wesley had guessed right and the spasm resolved, giving him much needed relief.

“Thank you,” he said with a smile. “You’re an angel.”

“No, I’m an engineer,” she corrected him light-heartedly. “I’m glad that worked. Your face is too handsome to have such an annoying affliction.”

The android smiled and touched his sleeping daughter’s head with affection. Then he leaned in and kissed his lover. “You know, my brother says we should be married,” he quipped when they parted.

“Data? He thinks we should be married?” she asked skeptically as she sat down on a stool. “That’s pretty funny.” Although, she reasoned it was probably funnier to her since she had a history with the future version of him. A version she was becoming concerned that she would never meet.

“Why is that funny?” Lore inquired not seeing the humour in it.

“Because you’re an android. Do you even have rights? Can you even he get married?”

“Oh excuse me. I didn’t realized that my romantic ideals would be subject to your real world scrutinization.”

Wesley regarded at the synthetic man for a long moment before she spoke again. “Lore, you just made some random comment about Data thinking we should be married,” she told him calmly. “If you actually mean to propose I deserve better than that.”

Lore straightened his posture and considered the sobering thought. He hadn’t meant to become so offended, so why had he? Maybe his ridiculous brother had a point.

“If I asked would you even say yes?” he asked full of self-doubt.

“I don’t know,” she replied with honesty. “I don’t believe that vows and rings and legality keeps people together. I think if you want to be with someone you have to choose to be with them everyday.”

“Then I choose to be with you today, and tomorrow and all the other days,” he said with a sappy smile.

“Even though you know I’m a deceitful time traveller who doesn’t belong here?” she questioned with a smirk.

“Especially because you are...because I never felt like I belonged either, not until I met you,” he said with sincerity.

“Damn it, Lore. Now I’m going to cry,” Wesley lamented as her lower lip wobbled.

“Oh you’re such a softy,” he said with a chuckle as he wrapped his arms around her and their baby.

.....

Lee Soong was happy. Her baby was thriving, her ‘not husband’ was being helpful and she was finally feeling healthy again. Lee Soong also didn’t exist. She was a fake person with a fake name. Even her new family was fake since half of the members were synthetic life forms. Synthetic just being a nicer way of saying fake. But these days Lee was ready and willing to take fake happy over the real sorrow she could have had.

The young mother was collecting vegetables in the garden on a bright afternoon. Her daughter, Zoe was holding court seated on a blanket on the grass. She was chattering away in some nonsensical baby language; which was honestly a relief to her mother. Wesley would have been horrified if her hybrid daughter had started speaking to her in full coherent sentences before she was a year old.

“Oh yeah and then what did uncle Data do?” Wesley asked expectantly as her daughter jabbered on with excitement. “He did what? No he didn’t.”

“What did she say I did? I do not understand how you know what it is she is saying,” Data said with some doubt as he approached the pair. Zoe squealed and grabbed at her feet as she lay on her back, looking up at her uncle with her bright blue eyes.

“Data,” the young woman sighed. “I have no idea what she’s saying. I just make a game of it. It’s important to talk to her like she’s a person and not give into to baby speak,” she explained as she put down her basket. “Even if she is the cutest little pixie-wixie ever and I could just eat her all up,” she added as she pretended to bite the infant’s toes, eliciting another squeal.

“I believe I understand about the need to encourage her language skills,” the android told her with a tilt of his head, though now he was confused as to why the woman would feign devouring her daughter. “Lee, I came out here to ask if you knew how to bake a cake.”

Wesley looked up at him, squinting against the sunlight. “A cake?”

“Yes, it is Mother’s birthday tomorrow and I recalled from one of your stories that it is a human tradition to celebrate with cake,” he explained as he crouched down to her level.

“Sure, Data. Although I have to be honest, I’ve never actually baked a cake from scratch before,” she confessed.

“Then perhaps we can figure it out together,” he said with a ghost of a smile.

“Perhaps we can,” she said with a laugh. She touched his arm affectionately and he looked down at it.

“Do you think I will ever be able to find a partnership such as that which my brother has found with you?” he asked out of the blue.

“I don’t know. I don’t see why not.”

“I do not possess emotions, nor am I capable of desire,” he informed her. “I cannot love.”

“I don’t think that’s completely true,” Wesley said as she shifted her hand from his arm to his face. “I think you can love, in your own way.”

“That is kind of you to think so, however if I cannot feel or express emotion; therefore I cannot love.”

“Would it bother you if I took Zoe and left and you never saw us again?”

“Why would you do that?” he countered with confusion. 

“I was just giving you a hypothetical to see how it would make you feel,” she explained.

“Ah, in that case I would feel nothing,” he told her plainly.

“So you say,” she quipped as she moved again, this time to gather up her daughter.

“May I?” Data asked softly as he indicated the infant.

“You want to hold her?” she question with slight surprise that he would suddenly be interested.

“It occurs to me that if your hypothetical were to become a reality that I have yet to hold Zoe. I would be remiss to allow such an opportunity to pass me by,” the android elaborated.

“We wouldn’t you to be remiss,” she said with a slightly mocking tone lost on him. 

Data sat down on the blanket and opened his arms to receive the baby. Zoe cooed and gurgled as he held her gently against his frame.

“She is remarkable,” he noted as he watched her intently. “She is always pleasant.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I’ve heard her cry once. I’m trying not to worry about it,” Wesley confided as she watched him watch her daughter.

“You would like for her to cry?”

“Not because I want her to be unhappy, but it’s normal for babies to cry,” she told him frankly as she scratched her back of her neck.

“Perhaps she has limited emotional capacity,” he offered after considering the facts.

“Gosh I hope not, no offence,” she said with a crinkle of her nose.

“None taken.”

.....


	19. Morality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lore gets weird about sex and Wesley takes it as challenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Explicit

Zoe was off napping under Juliana’s watchful eye as Wesley and Data worked away in the kitchen. They’d decided on chocolate cake and and hoped that the smell of the melted confection wouldn’t rouse suspicion.

“What did you do for your mother’s birthday last year?” Wesley asked out of curiosity.

“Father took her the old cabin for a few days. I suspect they did in private whatever it is married couples do,” Data said with a knowing air.

The young mother giggled at his insinuation that Dr. Soong would have some secret cabin where he could make love to his bride without his android sons spying on them. 

“That’s rather sweet that your father would do something special just for her,” she commented after she’d regained her composure.

As they were placing the cake batter into the pans they both got their share on their fingers. Wesley licked some off of her thumb and grinned, it tasted as good as it smelled. When she licked another finger she noticed that Data was staring at her.

“It’s fine Data, you can wash your hands if you like,” she said indicating his own dirty fingers. “I find it’s fun to lick the mess away,” she added with amusement.

Then, instead of going over to the sink as she’d expected, he leaned over licked her cheek. A hot, shameful thrill of arousal shot through her.

“That is fun, I suppose,” he mused before licking one of his own fingers.

Wesley watched his tongue as he worked on each of his finger. She realized that she hadn’t had sex since well before the baby was born and this was just her body’s way of reminder of that fact. But she couldn’t help herself from wanting him to lick her face again.

“Aren’t you two a pair?” Lore said with a dubious look as he observed the mess they’d made.

“Lore,” Wesley said a little louder than necessary. “Data why don’t you get the pans in the oven and make sure to take them out again when the timer goes off,” she instructed quickly as she removed herself from the kitchen.

“Yes, of course. Shall I clean up while I wait?” he asked after her.

“That would be great,” she told him as she wiped her hands on her apron and then removed it. “Lore I really need to borrow you.”

“What’s going on? Why are you acting so weird?” he asked as he let himself be led away into her bedroom.

Wesley closed the door behind them and started to take off her clothes. “Bed, sex, now,” was all she told him before she ceased his mouth with her own.

Lore smiled as she tried to continue kissing him. “Easy now, Lee. Where’s the baby?” he muttered into the mouth.

“Juliana has her. Now shut up and fuck me,” she said forcefully as she pushed him down onto the mattress so she could remove the last of her clothing.

Lore was like a brick wall. She straddled his lap and started undoing the front of his pants since he wasn’t doing it already. In fact he wasn’t doing much of anything. He just sat there unmoved by her seduction.

“What are you doing? What’s happening? Why aren’t you ravishing me?” she asked, her distress mounting.

“Because you sound like a whore,” he told her plainly. “Affection clause,” he reminded her.

“Oh please, I’m basically your wife. If your wife says throw my ankles behind my head you should be stiff in your pants, not stiff like a corpse,” she complained before trying to rouse him again.

“Ew,” he snapped as he removed himself from her reach.

“Lore, I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. Can we start over?” she lamented as she began to understand that she was doing this all wrong. 

“Sure,” he said, though he didn’t sound very sure.

He slowly sat down on the bed again and watched Wesley as she came to sit next to him. She took his hand and gently placed it on her cheek. He relaxed a little and leaned in to kiss her. They kissed for a while and she got him to remove his shirt. Then she straddled him again and pressed her bare front to his. She opened the front of his pants and let her hand find him, but when she did he was limp.

“What’s wrong?” she whispered not wanting to upset him.

“I don’t know,” he whispered back like it was a game.

“Don’t you want me?” she asked with concern.

“Of course I do. Maybe I’m just not programmed to walk in the door and start screwing without so much as a hello?”

“Fine. We’ll stop. You let me know when you want to make love,” she told him, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice.

“You sound upset,” he said with mild offence. 

“It’s fine,” she told him. “I mean I could try some oral sex if you thought it would help?” she asked innocently enough as she started putting her clothes back on.

Lore looked green and she could have sworn he gagged a little. 

“Are you okay?”

“Just don’t say that again,” he pleaded as he steadied himself.

“Say what? Oral sex?” she repeated, confused by his response.

This time there was no mistaking his visceral reaction. The android definitely gagged. “I just told you not to say that,” he groaned.

“I guess asking you to go down on me is out of the question,” she muttered mostly to herself.

“What are you doing? Stop speaking,” he pleaded as he covered her mouth with his hand.

She said something into his hand that he couldn’t understand. He winced as he removed it so she could repeat herself.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand how you were very eager to take me whenever you could before you knew I was pregnant and now that we can be together again you have no interest.”

“I do have interest. I am interested,” he corrected her.

She smiled softly. “Close your eyes,” she instructed. He didn’t want to close his eyes, but he did it anyways. 

Once he wasn’t looking Wesley got down between her lovers knees and moved his legs apart. She carefully freed his member from his pants and licked up the length of it with her warm, wet tongue.

Lore jumped up like a shot, knocking her to the floor. “That was...that was. Oh gods don’t ever do that again!” he shouted, repulsed.

“I’m sorry, but I seriously think there’s something wrong with you,” she said crossly as she picked herself up.

“Maybe I’m broken,” he said practically beside himself with panic.

“Well ask your father to fix you,” she said firmly as she opened the door, inviting him to leave.

“Aren’t you coming?” he wondered as she didn’t seem to be following him.

Wesley frowned and shook her head. “Not at the moment. I’m still horny and if you can’t help me I guess I’ll just have to take care of it myself,” she admitted openly before closing the door in his disgusted face.

Lore wandered away from her bedroom and sat on the old couch. His brother came to stand next to him. Data must have noticed his pained expression.

“What is wrong, brother? You look as though you are ill,” the younger android said with concern.

“Yeah, I think I am. Hey Data, can you have sex?” he asked as he lowered his voice.

“I am fully functional and programmed with multiple techniques of sexual pleasure.”

“Yeah, yeah, but can you actually have sex?” his brother pressed.

“I believe I am capable of sexual intercourse,” Data replied.

“What about oral sex,” Lore inquired as he grimaced as he experienced another wave of nausea.

“Again, it is not something I have had the chance to test, or put to use, however I should be quite capable.”

“Why? Why do you, the unfeeling machine, get to be capable of any kind of fanciful sex technique you or your partner come up with?” Lore demanded.

“I do not understand your complaint. Are you not able to have sexual intercourse?”

“I was able to. I want to...but I just can’t.”

“Would you like me to step in and satisfy Lee in a sexual capacity?” Data asked with good intensions.

“What did you just ask me?” Lore snapped as he stood up and went toe to toe with his brother.

“I have offended you,” the young android observed.

“Never, ever ask if you can satisfy Lee. And if I ever catch you so much as looking at her the wrong way I’ll deactivate you,” he threatened coldly.

“I would never attempt to take her from you. I could never be as loving or caring as you are.”

Lore knew that his brother was just being his overly literal self and had misconstrued their conversation as a request for help. However, he started to recall how he’d found his lover and his brother in the kitchen and how cosy they’d looked together; and how aroused the woman was. 

Lore patted Data on the shoulder. He finally felt like he’d figured out his problem. He was always on Wesley before because he was afraid of losing her and felt like he needed to prove how he felt about her. Now, with the baby and things so solid between them it never felt like there was any threat to his happiness. His brother’s tactless behaviour just gave him the fuel he needed. He was not going to lose her to him.

The android stalked back over to his lover’s bedroom and pushed the door in without knocking. He closed the door behind him dramatically as he lustfully took in her post orgasm glow. 

“Lore, what are you doing?” she giggled as she watched him quickly undress. She was more than surprised to find that he was sporting an erection.

“I’m showing you what you mean to me,” he told her as he took her hands and held them above her head. Then he claimed her mouth rather roughly and lifted her hips. He entered her easily since she was quite slick from masterbation. 

“Lore be gentle,” she reminded him.

“Always,” he hummed in response. And he was more or less, but there was an urgency to his need as well. 

As they lay next to each when they’d finished, Lore gave his lover a questioning look. “Would you be willing to to keep trying that other stuff, even if it physically repulses me?”

“What you mean..?” Instead of saying the words she gestured quite luridly with her hand in a fist and her tongue pressed into her cheek. Lore winced and hit her offensive hand away.

“Yeah, that. Who are you that you know how to do that?” he asked with revulsion. 

“I am a woman of many mysteries,” she quipped with a giggle. “I still think you need to stand up to your father and get him to correct this ridiculous aversion to anything pornographic.”

“Maybe he was afraid I’d become a rapist,” he said without humour.

“That was dark as fuck,” she rebutted with a whack to his chest.

“Um, when you first met me your whole face screamed ‘please don’t rape me’.”

“And would you have, if you could have?” she asked quite perturbed.

“Have you seen you?” he told her with unabashed lust. “I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. I just might have.”

“So now I’m just some idiot with Stockholm syndrome,” she shot back, offended.

“Ah yes, but you’re my idiot,” he said with affection and kissed her forehead.

“That’s it. Now you’re going to get it. Roll on your side,” she commanded as she tried to push him over.

“Excuse you? I think you’re forgetting that I’m a very strong android.”

“Um, excuse you, but if you ever want to touch me again you’ll let me do what I want,” she countered, unfazed.

Lore opened his mouth to say something clever, but he closed it again and did as she asked. She spooned him from behind and reached her hand to grip his limp dick. He grumbled a little that she wasting her time. Wesley bit his shoulder for as punishment for his complaint. 

The android didn’t really feel pain like a human, but he didn’t like that she was being so bossy either. When he muttered something else she pulled his hair, forcing his head back.

“What is your problem?” he wanted to know. He looked over his shoulder at her in annoyance that she was still beating a dead horse and he caught her pulling two very wet fingers out of her mouth. “What are you doing?”

She grinned and wagged her eyebrows at him before nudging the same two fingers against his rectum.

“Stop it. You’re behaving like a whore,” he complained, getting angrier now. Though for some curious reason he didn’t move away. He relaxed and let her do whatever sick thing she was trying. He knew he wouldn’t like it. Even if someone else would have, he knew he would be incapable.

Wesley decided if he wasn’t going to react on the outside then maybe she could see how atomically accurate he was on the inside. She slowly worked her way in and cursed her little fingers. She really had to press to find what she wanted. And then she found it.

Lore threw his head back and moaned. His limp dick jumped back to life and he rolled his hips.

“What the fuck, Lee?” he panted.

“I think I found your reset button,” she joked into his ear.

She removed her hand because she could tell that he was ready for more. He lay on his back in mesmerized pleasure as she kissed a trail down his front. This time when she licked up his erection he moaned in appreciation. 

“What did you do?” he said slightly afraid of how good he was feeling.

“Just enjoy it,” she told him before she took him into her mouth. It was more than he could comprehend and he came within seconds.

.....


	20. False Perceptions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone has their opinions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise I will do my best to use Zoe to build the story and not as a crutch :P

Data sat at the forte piano off to one side of the living area. He was trying to play a piece of music that he’d been practicing with his mother, but at some point the android was asked to watch Zoe. So he had the one year old sitting in his lap and every time he started playing she would squeal and try to hit the keys with him. 

“I understand that you are attempting to play, however you do not have the dexterity, nor the ear for the piano just yet,” Data explained to the child.

Zoe cooed and drooled in response before saying his name, “Dada.”

“My name is ‘Data’, the word you are saying means father.”

“Dada,” she said again as she looked up at him and smiled.

The android made a pained face as she hit some more random keys.

“Perhaps we should do something else for the time being,” he told her as he lifted her away.

He moved over to sit in a large chair and picked up a picture book that the little girl had been enjoying with her mother earlier. 

“I believe the little engine was struggling up the mountain when you went for your nap,” he said in a very serious manner.

“Data, what are you doing?” asked Juliana as she came through the room. She had been in the lab most of the day with her husband. “Where’s Lee?”

“I am about to begin reading to Zoe. I have not seen Lee since she left approximately two hours ago with Lore.”

“Did they go to the cabin?”

“I do not know. They only asked me to watch Zoe.”

“Let me take her for a while,” his mother said with a grin. “I think you should spend your time practicing the piano.”

Juliana eagerly picked up her granddaughter and lifted her in the air. The little one giggled. “Gamma!” she cried.

“Do all infants struggle with their pronunciation of words?” queried Data with a tilt of his head.

“She’s very young to be speaking much at all. I think it speaks to her intelligence that she can call us all by her own identifiers,” Juliana explained.

“Lore does not like that she calls me ‘Dada’,” he informed her with a frown.

“That’s his problem. He knows that’s just your name to her,” she mused, unconcerned.

“You do not think that they will attempt to have another child do you?”

“Why would you ask that? Did they say something?” Juliana wondered as she shifted the girl to her other hip.

“It is not so much what they have said, it is more how often they appear to be going off on their own,” the android told her with a suspicion sure air. 

“They’re putting finishing touches on the cabin together,” she rebutted, thinking they were more likely exhausted all the time than fooling around. “Besides, it’s my understanding that your father hasn’t developed any more of that synthetic DNA.”

“That is reassuring.”

“Why, don’t you like Zoe?” 

The little one must have known that they were talking about her because she looked from her grandmother to her uncle and seemed to show a sudden interest in their conversation, whether or not she could actually understand anything they were saying.

“I have no complaint against her, though I have observed that my brother and his wife would do better to concentrate their parenting efforts on the child they have.”

Juliana gave her son a look. “Are you passing judgement on their parenting?” she asked with concern. Then after a beat she added, “Did you just refer to Lee as Lore’s wife?”

“It is common in most civil societies for long term couples to presume a common-law marital status whether they have participated in a civil or religious ceremony or not.”

“I see. You know, Data, bringing up a baby is very different from raising androids,” she said as she sat on the couch with girl. She handed her a plush bear and tickled her sides. It was one thing that didn’t seem to elicit much of a response, however Juliana was determined to try tickling her every now and again.

“Technically Zoe is more android than biological life form,” he said assertively.

“But she’s still a baby,” she added firmly correcting him. “I think it’s actually a good thing that they feel comfortable enough to leave her with you.”

“They know I will not harm her.”

“That’s not why I think they do it. I think it’s good for you to experience caring for someone unable to care for themselves.”

“You believe this will prepare me to assist you in caring for Father when he is an elderly invalid?”

“No, Data,” she replied with a nervous laugh. “Don’t let your father hear you say anything like that. He won’t like it.”

“He is already past his prime. It stands to reason that he will need care far before you will.”

“I think he hopes that you will move on and have your own life before then.”

“Move on? To where and to do what?” Data asked with mild distress.

“I don’t know. The plan was never to keep you boys hidden away forever,” she said after a moment of consideration. “Lore finding Lee was the best thing that could have happened to him, even if it hasn’t been easy for either of them.”

“Do you think we will ever leave Omicron Theta?” her son wondered aloud. “Or do you believe I will have to venture out on my own if I ever decide to explore our vast universe?”

“How do you feel about that? Travelling on your own and meeting new people?”

The android gave his mother a look as though to remind her that he didn’t ‘feel’ anything. “The idea of not having you or father with me does concern me a little. However, there are times when I read about other worlds and alien species that I find myself curious to experience them first hand.”

“That’s really wonderful, Data. I’m sure that one day you might be ready for more than what this quaint little colony has to offer you,” she said with pride.

“What about everyone else?” he asked, unsure. “Do you believe people will be like Lee and accept me as I am, or be close minded like the colonists and see me only as a machine?”

“I suppose it would be most logical to believe you’ll encounter both kinds of people.”

“Lore says that we do not have rights,” he said with a frown. “He says that he would never leave Omicron Theta because no one would understand his relationship with Lee.”

“I know that Noonien is against Starfleet, but the Federation and Starfleet would be the place for you. I can’t see how they could deny your sentience.”

“I will keep that in mind. Why does Father not care for Starfleet?”

“I think it has something to do with their association with the Daystrom Institute,” she informed him with a knowing look. Data returned the look. He knew all about his father’s clash with the institute.

......

“Try it now,” said Wesley from under the sink.

They’d been attempting to hook up the old plumbing to the water line that was used for the compound. It would have been connected several years ago, but the scientist’s cut it off when they moved.

Lore turned the tap on, but nothing happened. “It’s still not flowing,” he told her with frustration.

“I don’t understand,” she sighed as she pushed a lock of hair out of her eyes; it was long enough now to put up in a small ponytail. “I checked the old line and the scan says that the water is flowing into the house.”

“None of the piping is blocked and all the connectors are new,” Lore added as he gave it some thought as well.

“I tried testing the outtake lines yesterday and they work just fine.”

“Maybe we need an actual plumber. Maybe your engineering skills aren’t up to snuff,” he offered, not to offend her, but to make her consider alternative possibilities.

“Or maybe this cabin is haunted and the ghosts that live here don’t want us moving in,” she said with amusement. 

“We could just run a garden hose in from outside,” he said with a shrug, ignoring her silly story.

“That’s not a solution, besides I thought we weren’t going to rush to move out here yet?”

“We’re not. I really like the idea of building our home together,” he told her warmly as he helped her off the floor. “It’s romantic.”

Once she was standing, Wesley leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder. She wasn’t entirely convinced that plumbing and cleaning were romantic. 

Lore was feeling cheeky and started to sway her in his arms. She looked up at him with an annoyed glare when she realized her was leading her in a slow dance.

“What are you doing?”

“Dancing,” he hummed.

“But there’s no music,” she teased all too quickly but then regretted it.

“Only you...can make this world seem right. Only you...can make the darkness bright,” he crooned as she laughed. She’d heard him sing their daughter to sleep, but he’d never serenaded her before.

“Only you and you alone...can thrill me like you do. And fill my heart with love...for only you.”

“Okay, Lore,” she giggled as she tried to pull away. He wouldn’t let her go and he pulled her closer so they were now cheek to cheek.

“Only you....can make this change in me. For it’s true, you are my destiny,” he continued softly into her ear. Then as if to break the tension, he swung her into an exaggerated dip and she let out a bark of laughter. Then he continued to lead her around the small cabin as he sang again.

“When you hold my hand, I understand  
the magic that you do.   
You’re my dream come true...  
My one and only you.”

“You’re nuts,” she whispered as he finished.

“Then you must be a squirrel,” he said with a wag of his eyebrows.

“Don’t say it,” she groaned.

“Because you’re crazy for me,” he chuckled as he dipped her again.

“What is wrong with you?” she muttered just before he claimed her mouth longingly.

“Can’t a man just be happy?”

She grinned at him and put her head back to rest on his shoulder. “Yes, Lore.”

“You look tired,” he said with a touch of concern.

“I am. I feel like the older Zoe gets, the stronger she gets. Also the less sleep she actually needs. I wish I had a manual to tell me if she’s getting enough of everything,” she commented with a grumble.

“I think she consumes more of our supplements than she does of yours.”

Wesley laughed at Lore’s terminology. She knew he meant his father’s formula for android supplements versus her breast milk, or the fruits and vegetables they’d been trying with her; but it sounded strange the way he worded it.

“You are tired. You always get giddy just before you crash,” he said as he tucked a finger under her chin and gently directed her to look up at him.

She couldn’t help but smile at him as he leaned down to kiss her affectionately.

“We should call it a day. I miss my girl and I want my bed,” she whined.

“And here comes the crash.”

“Shut up and take me home,” she demanded playfully.

“Shall I carry you milady?” Lore said sarcastically with a bow.

“I can walk, besides I’m feeling a little queasy from all that spinning and dipping,” she told him frankly. Lore tried to ignore her bad attitude towards his dancing and let her comment slide because he knew she was tired.

It was a beautiful afternoon and the sun was just starting for the horizon. As the couple approached their homestead they caught sight of someone lingering by the road, under the trees.

“Tell me it isn’t Dr. Dane,” Wesley winced as she squinted to try to get a better look at whomever it was.

“No, it’s Marni,” Lore said with mild surprise.

“As in Dr. Marietta Ferris?” the young woman asked with curiosity.

“What? You know Marni?” 

“She was my doctor when I was at the Medical Center. How do you know her?” 

Lore stopped walking and looked as though he was made physically uncomfortable by her question. 

“You should have told me she was your doctor,” he grumbled as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“I only didn’t tell you because we were all caught up in the fact Zoe was alive. What’s going on, my love?”

“Marni’s the woman...you know, from before,” he replied slowly with a pained expression on his golden face.

“Woman? What woman?” Wesley asked as though still lost on his meaning. Then she remembered the day they met by the water, all those months ago and how he’d tried to look human for a woman. “Not THE woman?”

“Yes. I thought being a medical doctor she had an interest in me. Turned out she did, but it was purely scientific.”

“You poor man,” his lover said with sympathy. 

She could’t help herself from pulling him close and kissing him. Lore responded by proudly taking her hand and leading her the rest of the way down meet their unexpected visitor.

“Hello, Dr. Ferris,” Wesley greeted the other woman. 

The slim blond turned towards them and smiled awkwardly at Wesley before she gave Lore an auspicious once over that left a bad taste in the brunette’s mouth. If she didn’t know any better she would say the woman wanted him, but probably only for his body.

“Lee, how have you been?” Marni said warmly as she focused on her former patient. “I was getting worried when you never returned for your annual check up.”

“Was I supposed to have one of those?” the brunette asked unsure she recalled such a thing being recommended.

“Technically I would have liked to see you back after six months, but I guess you were doing so well physically after a month that I didn’t want to press you,” the blond said casually.

Then Marni noticed that the pair was holding hands and made a face of mild disgust. Lore had been quiet and looking more to the ground than at either of the women and didn’t catch the change in her expression, but Wesley caught it and held his hand all the more tightly.

“Do you often help Juliana with her androids?” she wondered as she gestured to their hands.

“Excuse me?” Wesley replied, confused by what exactly she meant by her remark. “Lore is not a child who needs minding.” She thought better of confronting Dr. Ferris with what she really thought she was thinking; that she saw Lore more as a possible sex doll than a child.

Lore, who had been pretending to be more or less invisible, suddenly caught his lover’s offended inflection. He looked quickly from the engineer to the doctor with nervous interest.

“I didn’t mean that it was a child, but it’s good that you’ve found a way to move on from your grief,” Marni said with sensitivity. “Just be careful, it sometimes becomes overly attached.”

“‘It’ is a ‘he’...and he can hear you. He is also allowed to get as attached to me as he wants,” Wesley said harshly with great offence.

Lore wanted to tell her to leave it alone and not to make a big deal of this human woman’s misconceptions, however he was muted by his fascination of their exchange and wanted to see how far the two women would go in their respective arguments. 

“I never meant upset you, Lee,” Marni continued, “but these machines aren’t men. I think it’s important to remember that.”

“And I think it’s people like you who keep good androids like Lore from reaching their full potential.”

“It needs to know it’s place. If it believes it is as valuable as a biological person, or worse—that it’s better than us then we’ll all be in trouble.”

“Because artificial life should be made only to serve us,” Wesley said without humour.

“Why shouldn’t they?” Marni wondered as she crossed her arms defensively across her chest.

“Because that’s called slavery!” the other woman countered quite loudly.

The blond rolled her eyes in a way unbecoming of a medical doctor. “No it isn’t. These are machines, not people. They’re computers, not individuals. Why would a brilliant pair of scientists waste their time creating artificial intelligence only to have it run off on them?”

“They aren’t wasting their time,” Wesley said firmly. “They’re instilling morality and family values into them, consequently forming bonds of trust and loyalty. Lore has more compassion and kindness in his little finger than you have in your whole privileged, perky blond body!” 

Dr. Ferris scowled and gasped at the other woman’s audacity to defend the android so profusely. She looked as though she was about to make a rebuttal, possible something she would regret, when Lore finally stepped in.

“Lee, I believe it is time that we returned home. Dr. Soong needs to review my task logs for the day,” Lore said flatly. He sounded quite robotic and a little too much like Data. When his companion realized that he was making up the part about his logs she softened and gave his hand an affectionate squeeze.

“Of course. You’re right. We shouldn’t keep the man waiting,” she said calmly before turning back to the doctor. “Was there anything else that you needed?”

“Only to remind Juliana that I would like to see her next week for her check up,” Marni said with some reservations. “I suppose you can do that for me.”

“It would be my pleasure,” the brunette conceded sweetly.

The pair stayed and watched to be sure that Marni got into her small cart-like vehicle and left their property before they walked towards the rock face.

“That’s the woman you thought you were in love with?” Her tone wasn’t mean, but it wasn’t exactly understanding either. “Did she ever try anything with you?”

“Before or after she laughed in my face?” Lore huffed.

“Never mind, you don’t have to tell me.”

“She did come on to me...at least that’s what I thought at the time. She wanted to see how atomically accurate I was and was quite unprofessional when she gave me a full physical,” he explained still embarrassed that he’d fallen prey to her.

“She could lose her license for something like that.”

“If I were human, or technically alive,” he said sadly.

“So she gropes you and nothing happens because nothing could happen...”

“Exactly. And when I tried again to make her see how important I thought she was to me she just didn’t get it.”

“I can see why you were like a dog with a bone with me. Every time I turned you away you just pushed back harder,” she said after some consideration. 

“Yes, because you saw me for me and not like a toy, or a machine to be programmed,” he said with affection. “When I met you I felt strangely like I was always supposed to have known you. Even if I had to fight tooth and nail with you to get you to see it,” he added with a smirk.

“You lovely brute,” she teased playfully. 

“Don’t you forget it,” he teased back before nuzzling her neck. “Watching you come to my defence was a real turn on by the way. Maybe after you have a nap I can show you my full appreciation.”

“Hmmm. I can’t wait,” she said with suggestively as she seriously considered letting him jump her and forgetting about how tired she was.

......

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song “Only You” is credited to The Platters 1955.


	21. Timeline Correction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wesley comes face to face with herself.

Zoe was paddling her little cherub feet in the water of the stream. She giggled with glee as the cool water splashed up at hit her bare legs. Data was seated with her, his trousers rolled up to his calves and feet in the water on either side of his niece. He held the toddler around the waist to keep her from falling in. Not that is was very deep, but at two and a half the little girl would most likely slip on the slimy rocks and hurt herself. 

Wesley watched the pair from off to the side. She was gathering wild flowers to bring home. Ordinarily, her daughter would help her pick out the prettiest flowers, but she was busy with her new fascination with the water for the moment.

The young woman loved hearing her little girl’s laugh, even if it was in the midst of splashing and Data’s relentless need to try and calm her.

“Data it’s fine. She’s having fun,” she told him again.

“How can you tell? She never stops squealing,” he said with concern.

“That’s a happy noise,” she replied.

“You are certain?” the android asked, still unsure. He was starting to get soaked up both of his legs. For someone who claimed to have no emotional ability he was looking quite displeased.

“Why don’t you head back home and dry off. I think Zoe should be ready for a nap soon,” she said with a warm smile.

Lore had finished fixing up the plumbing in the cabin, but home still meant the compound. They figured they would stay there until Zoe was old enough to need her own room. Besides, having the family around was a big help.

Data nodded and swiftly handed the girl to her mother so that he could stand without fear of knocking her over.

Once he’d righted himself and slipped his boots back on he took Zoe up in his arms. “I believe we could both use some dryer attire,” he said to his niece. 

The little girl giggled some more before leaning her head to rest by his shoulder. “Dada,” she yawned. Wesley frowned. She knew Lore hated that his brother’s name made it sound as the girl were calling him her daddy.

“You were correct. She is tired. You are very good at that.”

“At what exactly?” she asked out of curiosity.

“Mothering,” he said frankly.

Wesley grinned and touched his arm affectionately. Then she watched them disappear into the thicket. She picked up the last of her bouquet and stood in appreciation of the quiet for moment. 

When she was finally ready to go home she turned around to find there was a man standing several feet away, watching her. Panic rose in her chest as it took her a moment to recognize who he was. Sadly, knowing who he was didn’t make her feel better about his being there.

“Hello Lee,” the man said as he came towards her. “You are a very difficult person to find. I never would have guessed that you’d been here all this time.”

“Why are you here?” she asked feeling more than a little afraid that he was going to take everything from her.

“You know why I’m here. You’ve broken several temporal laws and created quite the little paradox,” he explained.

“So, what happens now?” she asked as she instinctively stepped back and away from him.

“There’s no need to be afraid. I’m you, remember,” said Traveller Wesley with a kind smile.

“Somehow that doesn’t bring me comfort,” she retorted nervously.

“She’s a beautiful little girl, your Zoe,” he said with a hint of sadness.

“Just tell me why you’re really here. What’s going to happen?” she demanded growing tired of whatever game he was playing.

“You were supposed to stay with Data. You were meant to be on the Enterprise, not here in the past messing with Lore,” he said with less understanding.

“So what took you so long to find me?”

“I actually didn’t know you were missing, exactly. We became aware of a discrepancy in the timeline. Data was suddenly was never in Starfleet and subsequently altered many key points in the history of the Enterprise and her crew. Not to mention the ships and crew of those he served with before.”

“So this is about Data. Why don’t I just encourage him to join up. I’m sure with a little coaxing he could be convinced,” she argued.

“Wesley, you know that’s not the extent of the damage you’ve done. This entire colony was meant to be destroyed,” her other self explained.

Hearing her name in her own male voice was jarring. No one had called her that in so long that it didn’t feel right anymore.

“So now you’ve come to ensure the destruction of this planet and the genocide of these people?” she cried with distress. “How can you do that? Why can’t you just let this timeline be as it is?”

“I’m not going to do anything. The crystalline entity that was called here by Lore is still coming. I have nothing to do with what will happen.”

“I don’t understand, if the colony is destroyed why doesn’t Data land in Starfleet?”

“Because you warn your family and you leave well before it gets here,” he said darkly.

“Wait, just wait,” she blurted in a panic. “I won’t say anything. I’ll stay and die if I have to, as long as Dr. Soong and Juliana get away with Zoe.”

“And where does that leave Lore? He’ll blame his parents and want revenge for leaving you here to die. This will be better. This will help him to move past the tragedy,” he told her with resolve as he began to walk towards her again.

“What, you’re going to kill me now? I won’t let you!” she screamed as she threw the flowers at him.

“You told Lore that you might disappear one day. Looks like today’s the day,” he huffed as he reached out and grabbed her hand.

....

Data arrived back at the homestead and took Zoe into the little room she shared with her mother. Lore had been trying to get them all to bunk together, but the truth was that his room wasn’t much bigger and it had a good sized workstation that he was afraid his daughter might damage herself on. So Zoe stayed with Wesley.

The android had just gotten her into a clean diaper and some dry, clean clothes when her father knocked on the door frame.

“Hi Data, I just finished fixing that engine problem with the buggy and heard you come in; where’s my little woman?” said Lore as he finished wiping the grease from his hands.

“Lee stayed by the stream. She should be arriving shortly,” his brother replied.

Lore took in the state of Data’s wet and muddied trousers and laughed. “Looks like I’m not the only one who got messy today. What happened to you?”

“I was sitting by the water with your daughter,” he told him, unamused. Then Data handed his brother the little girl. “She is clean and dry, but may need feeding and a nap.”

“Sure,” he said simply as he grinned at Zoe. “Shall we feed your sweet little face?”

“Papa,” she squealed. 

“Does Zoe want some num nums?” Lore asked in a cute little baby voice. The girl nodded with excitement in response.

Data gave his brother a look. “Lee does not like it when you talk like that to Zoe.”

“Oh she doesn’t mind that much,” Lore rebutted with offence. “I have to be allowed to have some fun. She’s probably the only kid I’m gonna get.”

“You are most likely correct, therefore you should foster her development and refrain from using inane made up words when you speak to her,” Data countered with importance.

“Because you’re so perfect,” his brother shot back with annoyance as he sat Zoe in her high chair at the kitchen table and then went to wash his hands properly in the sink.

Data decided not to continue their discussion. He’d made his point and could already tell that his brother wasn’t going to take his advice. So he left the two in the kitchen and went off to the lab to change his attire.

“Don’t worry kiddo, I’m sure one day Uncle Data will discover a sense of humour,” Lore said to his daughter, only half joking.

Zoe banged on the table with gusto as she impatiently waited for her father to bring her something to eat.

“I got it, I got it,” he groaned at her lack of manners. He dramatically opened the refrigeration unit and stuck his head inside. “Let’s see...we have carrots, zucchini, applesauce. Any interest?” Lore said as he listed a few options. As he turned back to his daughter to see if she had any preferences he was surprised to find her absent. “Zoe?”

He ducked under the table to see if maybe she’s slipped to the floor. He’d only had his back to her for less than a minute and couldn’t understand how she could have disappeared so quickly.

“Unless?” Lore’s mind took off with a horrible notion; the idea that not only could his wife disappear, but his daughter along with her. “No...no. No it’s not possible,” he ranted to himself.

Lore rushed into the lab to find his brother. He was halfway through putting on a fresh shirt.

“Data did you take Zoe?” he asked with some urgency.

“I left her with you just a moment ago,” his brother replied frankly as he straightened his appearance. “Do you mean to say that you have lost her?”

“No. No that’s not possible,” the older android said quietly, in a far off way.

“What is not possible?” Data inquired as he watched Lore intently. When no reply came he offered a suggestion. “Perhaps Lee came home and took her.”

“Lee...oh gods, Lee!” Lore exclaimed as he ran out of lab again.

Data couldn’t understand how his brother could so easily lose sight of his daughter and he was a little concerned that he was playing a trick on him.

“Lee?” Lore called out into the rest of their home. He darted from room to room, Data on his heels.

“Lore, this is not a particularly amusing game.”

“Game? Dear brother, this is no game! I can’t find my daughter!” Lore said with obvious distress.

“I will retrace my path back to the water and see if I can find Lee,” Data told him. 

“Good idea. Where are Mother and Father?”

“They went for a walk. Mother worries about Father’s sedentary habits,” the younger android explained.

“Okay, you go look for Lee and I’ll keep looking here,” Lore said as he looked under the kitchen table again as though Zoe could suddenly reappear.

It was several minutes later when Dr. Soong returned with his wife and they found Lore sitting at the kitchen table, his head in his hands.

“What’s wrong? Why do you look like that?” asked his father harshly. “And why is my house a mess?” he added as he took in the disheveled appearance of the living area. There were seat cushions on the floor and chairs over-turned. Even the small piano was on it’s side.

“Noonien, he probably had another fight with Lee,” Juliana said in hushed tones. “Is that what happened, Lore?”

“I can’t find her,” he muttered as he stared at the table top.

“You can’t find Lee?” inquired his father, not entirely surprised.

“No...I don’t know,” Lore said with some confusion as he continued to act strangely.

“Lore, where is Zoe? Is she still out with Data?” his mother wanted to know.

“I don’t know,” he muttered again.

Data arrived and walked into the kitchen area. “I could not find her. I am sorry Lore.”

“Wait. Stop. Data what’s going on?” Juliana demanded as she started to get an uneasy feeling.

“I was up at the stream with Zoe and Lee this afternoon. I came home with Zoe, ahead of Lee, to dry off and change. Lore came in from working on the buggy and was in the kitchen with Zoe when I went to change my own clothes. Less than five minutes later he came into the lab and told me that Zoe was gone.”

“And Lee?” Their father asked this time.

“I went back to find her and could not,” their son replied.

“Lore, where could they have gone? Could Lee have snuck in when you weren’t looking and taken Zoe?” Juliana rambled as she tried to understand what was happening.

“No. No I didn’t hear her. I know what she sounds like,” he managed to mumble as he continued to look unfocused.

Dr. Soong made a pained face and came around to touch Lore’s shoulder. The android didn’t react.

“Lore, where was Zoe when you last saw her?” the man questioned.

His son shook his head slowly and pointed abstractly at the high chair attached to the opposite side of the table.

“And what were you doing?” Soong added with a frown.

“F-fr-fridge. I h-had m-my head in the f-fridge,” he replied slowly, his words failing a little.

“Noonien, what’s wrong with him?” Juliana asked with panic rising in her chest.

“Sh-she s-s-said. She s-s-said...sh-she c-c-could go.”

“Go? Lee would not just leave without informing us as to where she was going,” Data responded in the woman’s defence.

“I c-c-can’t. I c-c-can’t...”

“Lore, it’s going to be alright. We’ll take care of this,” Soong said firmly as he reached down to his son’s lower back and discretely deactivated him via his hidden mechanism. Lore slumped a little with his head still in his hands, but now he was resting directly on the table.

“What did you do that for?” the man’s wife asked as she put an emotional hand to her mouth.

“He wasn’t processing right. He could barely speak,” her husband replied as he wiped a hand over his face, revealing how upset he actually was. “This is really bad.”

“Lore has journals. Perhaps there may be a clue to where Lee said she may go,” Data offered as he turned to go to his brother’s room.

“Data,” his mother called to keep him close. He stopped and turned back to her as he reached the short hallway. “You’re certain that you were with Lee and Zoe all afternoon?”

“Yes, Mother,” he replied, “very certain.”

“So Lore couldn’t have done something to her?”

“Done something?”

“Juliana, stop. If the boy says he was with them then we have to believe that Lore had nothing to do with them disappearing,” her husband pleaded.

“There may have been enough time for Lore to approach Lee after I left her, if he had been waiting close by,” Data deduced. “However, I did not find any traces of a physical altercation...except.”

“What?” Juliana pressed.

“The flowers she had been collecting were scattered around and there was an odd footprint in the wet soil by the stream. Almost as though someone turned abruptly backwards,” Data noted with curiosity. “If Lee had been knocked into the water it would explain why there was no trace of her.”

“Stop it. Lore would never harm her,” blurted Soong in his elder son’s defence. “Even if he did accidentally push her into the water it isn’t fast enough, or deep enough that she couldn’t save herself from it.”

“Not if she were unconscious. I do not wish to believe that Lore could do something so malicious either, however they have had some serious altercations in the past,” Data noted with concern.

“But why Zoe?” Juliana wondered aloud as she sat down in one of the vacant kitchen chairs. “Why would he want to harm his little girl? He wouldn’t have even had time to...it doesn’t make any sense.”

“No it doesn’t,” Soong concurred. “Data go check your brother’s journals.”

“Noonien, what are we going to do? How could this have happened?” Juliana was beside herself. It wasn’t as though they could just put out a bulletin for the little girl when she technically didn’t exist.

“I don’t know, my love. I need get Lore into my lab and run some diagnostics on him. Maybe I can play back some of his recent memories to piece together what happened.”

It was two days later and there was still no sign of the young woman or her daughter. Dr. Soong had done all he could, but he still had no more answers than when they started their investigation. Even Lore’s journal entries were few and far between. It looked like he’d began neglecting them once Lee had become a fixture in his life.

“I’m going to turn him back on so we can try to talk to him, but I may have to shut him down again if I think he can’t handle it. I can’t risk him going into cascade failure. Not after so many years of never having any problems. I’ll delete his memories before I let that happen,” Soong explained solemnly.

Juliana nodded and watched her other son intently. “Data maybe it would be best of you didn’t say anything to Lore right now,” she told him as delicately as possible.

Data nodded his reply and stood off to the side. Lore was still hooked into the scientist’s diagnostic machine in a similar fashion as Data often was. Dr. Soong took a deep breath before he reactivated Lore.

“Hello, son. Can you understand me?” he inquired as Lore slowly came back online.

“Father?” Lore asked with a very confused expression on his face. “What happened?”

“We had to shut you down for a little while. It was for your own good,” Soong explained.

“What do you mean?” he question with obvious alarm. “Lee and Zoe are missing! How can you stand there and casually tell me that you shut me down?!”

“Calm down, boy. Everything will sort itself out,” Soong said calmly, though he could tell that Lore wasn’t buying it.

“Calm down? You want me to calm down? How long was I out?”

“Approximately two days, five hours, forty minutes and fifty-two seconds,” Data chimed in.

Both Juliana and her husband winced at the same time. “We asked you not to speak, Data.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Lore cried as he stood and pulled the cord out his head. “My wife and daughter go missing and you knock me out for two fucking days!”

“Lore, that’s enough,” his father said assertively. “We’ve searched for them, but they’re gone. You weren’t functional. I had to stop your processors so that I could reboot you safely.”

The android looked from his father to his mother and then back at his brother. “You’re lying. You think I did something to Lee, don’t you? Even though I was no where near her all afternoon? Did you take Zoe? Are you keeping her from me?”

“Lore, we aren’t keeping anyone from you and we don’t know what to think,” Juliana said quietly. It had been a hard couple of days and she wasn’t coping well.

“Well maybe Data did something! Why didn’t either of you think of that?” Lore said venomously.

“Data wouldn’t hurt a house fly,” Soong rebutted, tired of the circles they were going in.

“It is true, brother I would not,” Data concurred.

“Brother,” Lore retorted cruelly. “You’re not my brother. I trusted you and couldn’t keep Lee safe.”

“From you? I doubt anyone could,” Data said offhandedly.

Lore snapped and lunged at Data. He knew that all logical reasoning was pointing to Lee vanishing back to the future just as she’d told him she might, but he wasn’t thinking logically, or rationally. He saw red and needed someone to blame other than himself.

Data did his best to defend himself. The scene looked like a comical fight between doppelgängers out of a comic book. Dr. Soong was becoming afraid that they would do harm to each other, or to his lab. So he picked up one of his devices and shocked Lore with it. The older android went stiff and fell to the floor.

“Goodness! What have you done, husband?” Juliana cried for fear that he’d killed one of their two sons.

“He’s just stunned, Juliana,” he grumbled and then made sure he was deactivated before getting Data to help him to sit him up again.

“Are you alright, Data?” she asked as she rushed to her son’s side.

“I am fine, Mother, though I have never seen Lore act out so violently before,” Data said seemly unharmed from his altercation. “What do you plan to do, Father?”

“I can’t let him behave like this around the colonists. I’m afraid that we have no choice but leave him deactivated until a better solution can be found,” the scientist said with a heavy heart.

And deactivated Lore stayed. It was only one short week later that the colony perished and Dr. Soong and his wife made their escape.

......


	22. Back to the Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wesley has to explain to everyone what she’s been up to.

Wesley cried out as she tried to pull away. She fell to the ground, which should have landed her in the water, but she could no longer hear the rushing sound of the stream and there was a solid floor where she now lay.

She opened her eyes and looked around. Spot came up to her and head-butted her forearm for attention. She was back in Data’s quarters on the Enterprise. She could only guess that she was back to the moment after she’d departed.

The young woman put a hand over her mouth to muffle a mournful sob. She held her other hand over her stomach. She hadn’t just been pulled away from her new family and her husband, but her child too.

Her mind was too muddled to do the exact math, but if things were back to how they should be it was possible that her daughter didn’t exist. Even if she did there was a fifty-fifty chance that she would have died when the colony was ended. If she was alive she would be a grown woman and have no memory of her.

Data entered his quarters and found his partner on the floor beside herself in grief. He rushed over to her and threw his arms around her. “I am so sorry,” he said with remorse.

Wesley continued to cry as she clung to the android for support. He believed she was upset from catching him with Grady. He had no idea what was actually wrong with her.

“Wesley, please do not be so upset. I was cruel to act so selfishly. I will never betray you again. I promise.”

“Data,” she murmured through her tears. “Data it’s so terrible.”

“I know and I am sorry,” he told her, his voice full of regret.

“Not you. Zoe,” she told him as she tried to pull herself together.

“Zoe? Who is Zoe?”

“Mama,” came a call from the bedroom. 

Wesley’s eyes went so wide that Data thought they might pop right out of her head.

The young woman was up like shot and when she returned from his bedroom she was holding her daughter in her arms. “Thank you. I knew you couldn’t let her die,” she said in a prayer of thanks to other self. Now it was more like the dream she’d had, but she didn’t care as long as Zoe was with with her.

“Where did that child come from?”

The dark haired little girl clung to her mother and looked tearful for the first time in her life.

“It’s okay Zoe. Mama’s here,” Wesley cooed, ignoring her present-time boyfriend’s question.

“I think you need to explain a few things,” said Data as he tried to comprehend the mysterious presence of the child and her sudden change in appearance.

“I think I should,” she said as bounced her daughter softly in an attempt to soothe her.

Wesley spent the next twenty minutes telling her former lover all about her exploits and how she’d trapped herself in his past. She tried to give as much information as she could without too many details, fearing that he may become overwhelmed from it; or that she might.

“So you resigned yourself to a life with my brother, however it is now as though none of it ever happened,” Data surmised.

“That part I’m not entirely sure of. I don’t know what happened after I left.”

“It is possible that the Lore from this timeline would have no recollection of you?”

Wesley wasn’t sure of that either. She pushed down a wave of grief as she realized that the synthetic man she loved was gone. “What would it matter now, he’s dead?”

The android gave her a look of confusion. “Lore is not dead. He is in isolation in the penal colony on Jaros II.”

“What?” Wesley said with obvious alarm. “But what about Lal and her hologram being over-written?”

“I have no idea as to what you are referring. Lal’s hologram failed as a result of her irrational and erratic behaviour. We chose, or rather I chose to terminate it,” he explained.

“Then when was I traumatized by Lore?” she wondered aloud as she put a hand to her forehead.

“When you were fifteen. Though you did not tell anyone for years,” Data told her with concern.

“Because he held a phaser to my head?”

“I do not know about a phaser, however he did force you to..,” Data paused as his gaze lingered on the toddler. “I really do not feel comfortable with this vein of discussion in front of your offspring.”

“She doesn’t understand.”

“She may. If she is just as much Soong-type technology as human she may understand more than you are giving her credit for,” he told her with a serious expression.

“Alright then I don’t understand. Did Lore destroy the colony on Omicron Theta?”

“It is believed that he did. He maliciously and intentionally invited an energy devouring entity to the planet.”

“Why?”

“That was never made clear. Perhaps he was distraught over the sudden loss of his wife and child,” Data informed her sharply. “Why do you keep trying to rationalize his behaviour? He was always destined to become a murderous villain.”

“Because he wasn’t when I left him. He’d changed,” she muttered defensively as she pulled her daughter closer. 

“Wesley, please do not tell me that you are in love with him,” Data pleaded.

“I can’t help it. I was just with him. We were just together.” Her mind was racing with the possibility of Lore not being lost to her after all and what that could mean to her and her daughter.

“And what about us? Do you no longer value our time together?” 

“Do you? Don’t you want the chance to find out if you and Grady should have stayed together?”

Data shook his head and looked at her again. “Wes where is your badge?” 

“My badge?” she repeated unsure fo what he was talking about.

“The one you use to travel. I want you to give it to me so that I may destroy it,” he said tersely as he held out his hand.

“Well I don’t have it. I told you, my other self sent me back,” she explained with mild annoyance that he would be so demanding about something so unimportant.

“Where is it?”

“I had Lore destroy it,” she told him as she shifted Zoe in her arms.

“You did what?” Data retorted with alarm.

“When I found out I was pregnant I had him destroy it. I couldn’t risk...” Her words failed as she saw the look of horror on the android’s face.

“You had Lore destroy your only possible way of returning home,” he said with dismay as he sat in a chair.

“It didn’t work anymore.”

“Then why did you destroy it?” he questioned still unable to grasp why she would do such a thing. “Lore did unspeakable things to you.”

“I know. I can almost remember it now,” she commented. It was true her old memories were beginning to merge with new alternative ones from this timeline.

“He used me and caused me to harm my friends—my family,” Data reminded her.

“I know,” she conceded, but hearing his crimes out loud didn’t stop her from wanting to see him again.

“Juliana never mentioned you either.”

“Maybe your father removed me from the memories he gave her,” Wesley said without thinking. “That poor man.”

Data tried to focus on her revelation about Juliana and ignore the fact that she’d now had a more profound relationship with his father than any he could remember.

“You may be right, though I do not recall sharing the very sensitive information about Dr. Juliana Tainer being an android with you.”

“Yeah, that was my mother,” she said with a grimace.

“Of course it was. Then without my memories, or Juliana’s the only two people who could know you were Dr. Soong—who has died—and my brother.”

“I think he remembers me. I think he called me ‘Lee’ when he attacked me,” she confessed as she began to get a better understanding of their first encounter.

“‘Lee’? Is that important?”

“It’s what he called me. I lied and said my name was Lesley. He shortened it and everyone used it. I just never really tried to correct anyone. Damn it, I never should have told him I had a brother named Wesley.”

“In other words he attacked you because he knew who you were.”

“I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

“Wesley, this is not good,” he said without looking at her.

“Don’t you think I know that?”

“Do you? Because I am uncertain that you understand the gravity of what you have done.”

“I do understand,” she said as she fought back fresh tears. “I needed someone and God help me, Lore became that someone,” she said without regret. She could tell that Data wasn’t especially moved by her plight and she gave up trying to explain herself. 

“I think I’ll go and spend the night with my mother,” she added and then she left their quarters.

Data wanted to stop her, but he found that he couldn’t move. He was too upset to take action. It was a new and disturbing feeling. 

......

Robin Lefler stormed into Sickbay with an agenda. She was getting tired of her best friend’s antics and refusal to fix the things in her life that needed attention. However, when she arrived she was met with a bit of an unusual scene and forgot her speech and her self-righteous intentions.

“Whose baby is that?” Robin blurted with confusion as she watched Doctor Crusher make a fuss over the two year old.

Nurse Alyssa Ogawa smiled brightly and nodded towards her friend who was sitting on a bio bed close by. “That would be Wesley’s daughter. Apparently it’s one heck of a long story.”

“Excuse me? I saw Wesley at the gala last night,” the lieutenant said with offence. “There is no way that little girl is Wesley Crusher’s spawn.”

“Except that she is,” corrected Beverly as she handed the child to her nurse. “She’s a beautiful, healthy twenty-nine month old little angel,” she added with enthusiasm.

“Wes?” Robin asked looking for clarity from the source of all this confusion.

“Robin I’d like you to meet my daughter, Zoe,” she replied. She was exhausted again, or still. She wasn’t really sure anymore.

“I don’t understand,” the pregnant woman commented as she came to sit next to the other woman.

“I know. No one does. I made a big dumb mess of my life. Again,” Wesley lamented.

“Who’s the father?”

“Data.” “Lore.” Beverly and her daughter said at the same time.

“Mom, don’t tell people that!” Wesley begged of her mother.

“What difference does it make? They both have the same heritage and honestly Dr. Soong could have put his revolutionary experiment into either of his androids. Just tell people it’s Data’s child.”

“Please give me back my baby, Alyssa,” Wesley requested without humour. The nurse complied and made a face at her CMO.

“What are we putting on the official birth record?” asked Ogawa.

“That’s a very good question. I can’t exactly put Data, or Lore’s names as the father. I suppose we could put father unknown,” Beverly commented after consideration. “Then again, we could put your name as the father since in most instances it would be easier to believe a human born male fathered a child rather than gave birth to one as a transitioned female.”

“Holy shit, my brain hurts just from that piece of information alone,” Robin complained. Then she felt bad for cursing in front of Zoe.

“What about the name?” Alyssa wondered as she looked to fill another field of the document in question. “Is it Zoe Crusher, or Zoe Soong?”

“Please use Crusher,” Beverly all but begged. “Especially if it looks like we’re putting you down as the father.”

“I’m her mother, Mom,” she groaned, unswayed.

“I suppose we could state that Wesley is both mother and father?” offered the nurse.

“Ugh, just put down me as the father and Lee Howard as her mother for now,” Wesley said, wanting the whole thing over and done with.

“Lee Howard?” asked Robin. “That’s just you again isn’t it?”

“Ugh. I can’t deal with this anymore,” Wesley moaned with frustration.

“Too bad, kiddo. This is your life now. You made your bed you’re just going to have to lie it,” her mother said firmly.

“Oh God, that’s just what Q said,” Wesley grumbled, having forgotten his cute little message until that moment.

“I thought you got yourself stuck in the past?” queried the doctor.

“I did, but when I tried to call for help, Q intercepted my message because he’s a jerk.”

“So you were in the past?” Robin asked as she tried to keep up.

“I was in Data’s past,” her friend clarified.

“But you fooled around with his brother instead of him? Why would you do that?” Robin wanted know.

“Because I’m a horrible person. And because early Data was like a ten year old child,” Wesley explained.

“Ah, that makes sense.”

“Does it? Does that make sense to you? Thank goodness, Wes. You finally make sense to someone,” Doctor Crusher said, dripping with sarcasm.

“Thanks Mom. That’s such a supportive thing to say right now.”

“Wait no. Your mom is right, that doesn’t make sense. Wes, you spent a lot of years afraid to let anyone touch you because of what that monster did to you and now you’re telling me that you just dipped into Lore’s past and forgave him?” Robin rambled indignantly.

“It’s complicated,” Wesley whined.

“You and I almost didn’t happen because of his abuse and now you’re just going to shrug it off with ‘it’s complicated’? What about Data? He loves you,” Robin reminded her with growing hostility.

“I know,” she groaned. 

Beverly could tell that her daughter’s mounting distress for her misdeeds was starting to affect her granddaughter. She swooped in and removed Zoe from her mother’s arms.

“Look, why don’t Zoe and I spend some time together while you and Robin work a few things out,” the doctor suggested.

“Thanks, Mom. You don’t mind?” 

“Not at all. I just found out I’m a grandmother. I might as well get to know the little one better,” she explained with understanding. “Go talk things out with your friend and then work things out with your boyfriend.”

Wesley was happy that her mother was actually being helpful for once, but wasn’t entirely sure that she still had a boyfriend to work things out with.

.....

“You lived with Dr. Soong and his wife and their two android sons for nearly three years?” Robin said in disbelief when she’d finally gotten the whole story.

“That’s about the size of it, yes.”

“And Data doesn’t remember because his memories were wiped?”

“Yes, Robin.”

“Holy fuck.”

“Yep.”

“You aren’t going to talk to Lore, right? I mean even after he was locked up and they threw away the key you were still having nightmares,” Robin said with concern for her friend’s wellbeing.

“Right and I ended up in your bed two nights ago,” Wesley recalled, although for her it was years ago.

“Exactly. So no talking to the psychopath. If you need to talk to someone, talk to Data.”

“Unless he’s talking to Grady.”

“Stop worrying about that guy. Data loves you.”

“I caught them practically doing it in the turbolift the night I ran off. Data is not over Grady Skye.”

“Damn. You should have led with that tidbit. I bet that was upsetting.”

“Yeah and I bet you’re putting that image in your spank bank for later, you pervert.”

“Hey. I would never do that...now,” she confessed with a guilty frown. 

Wesley couldn’t help but smile at her friend’s predictability. She’d really missed Robin; which in turn made her miss Lore.

“I really want to talk to Lore,” Wesley confided knowing that her friend was against it.

“Why? What I gather from what you just told me—you were the love of his life, but he still turned rotten and murdered and raped people,” Robin surmised with distain. “Lore is evil. You gave it your best shot, but even love couldn’t save him from himself.”

“If only I hadn’t disappeared,” Wesley muttered as she pulled her arms around her sides in an attempt to comfort herself.

“You never should have been there in the first place,” Robin reminded her.

“You’re right. I’ll talk to Data again.

But she didn’t feel like talking to Data. There was only one android she really wanted to talk to.

.....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello and thank you for reading! This section of the story went through so many possible outcomes. This was the one that felt the best to me. Some of the other possibilities were a little too depressing. Just to give you lovely readers an update...this is a little over halfway through. So there’s a lot more to come :) I am also debating putting up the alternative timeline story of Wesley and Lore back when Lore was first reactivated. Let me know if you’re interested. I may publish it separately. Cheers!


	23. Time Has Not Been Kind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wesley is caught between two androids.

“Hey Droid. You have a virtual visitor,” came the gravelled voice of the guard over the comm.

“I’m sorry, but it was my understanding that one of the perks of isolated confinement was that I didn’t get visitors—virtual or otherwise,” Lore growled in response.

The criminal was standing in a dimly lit cell with padding on the walls and floor. Not that he really need it. Being an android meant he was less likely to try to harm himself. There was one small bench against the back wall that would have functioned as obscenely small bed for any other prisoner. His appearance was unkept having no one to impress; his dark hair shaggy and haphazardly sticking out. He wore a simple one-piece jumper in maroon. He hated maroon.

There was one door and unlike other cells, it was closed rather than open with a force field, creating a complete sense of solitude. There was a comm and a view screen next to the doorway, but they were used quite sparingly. 

“We’ve decided to make an exception this time. The woman claims that she’s your wife,” the guard told him with a dubious air.

“Wow, there are some truly disturbed people in the universe, Mr. Fender,” he muttered with distain. “I don’t have a wife. She’s probably some weirdo vying for my attention. What can I say? Ladies love them some psychotic android.”

“She says her name is Lee Howard. Ring any bells?” 

“Nope,” he lied. “Tell her to take her mental illness elsewhere. I have no time for crazy women today.”

“Well this woman is a Starfleet officer,” Fender continued. “She says if you won’t answer her under Lee Howard then maybe the name Wesley Crusher might jog your perfect memory.”

“Fuck,” he groaned and then punched the padded wall. He could tell that he wasn’t going to get away from this torment until he gave in. “Fine. Put her through. I’m sure you’ll be listening in.”

“As always,” confirmed the disembodied voice of the guard.

“You know that would sound more impressive if this wasn’t my first call ever,” he yelled into the air, though he knew that the guard was always listening even when nothing was being said.

“Lore?” The small view-screen buzzed to life just out of his reach, above his head. On it was the image of a woman he only ever saw in his daydreams.

“Holy fuck,” Lore whispered quietly in the silence of his cell as he recognized the face on the screen.

“Lore, you made me a promise, why couldn’t you keep it?” asked the woman with sadness in her big dark eyes.

“You can’t be Lee. She’s dead. Everyone said I killed her,” he ranted with distress not really hearing anything else she was saying. He ran both of his hands through his unkept hair and then stared at the screen again. “Did you hear me, Lee? My own family thought I’d murdered you!” 

“What are you talking about? I disappeared. Why would they ever think you killed me?”

“This isn’t real. You aren’t real.”

“I am real. My real name is Wesley Crusher, but I think you already figured that out,” she explained uncertain that he would even absorb anything she was saying.

“That’s right. That sad little gender confused idiot,” he rambled as he pointed the screen without looking at her. “You and you’re useless dick.”

“Lore will you please stop acting so erratic and talk to me,” she pleaded.

“Why? Why should I talk to you; because you’re sad?” he mocked as he mimed tears down his face with his fingers. “Did you think you could save me? Well boo hoo, you deceitful bitch!” He kicked the padded wall and dramatically covered his ears. “Shut her off. I don’t want to talk to her anymore.”

“Lore I just got back. I was literally with you yesterday,” she exclaimed, trying to get him to hear her out.

“Blah, blah blah,” he said loudly as he continued to cover his ears. Not that any amount of noise could stop him from hearing her with his sensitive android hearing.

“I have Zoe.”

That got his attention. He instantly went silent. Slowly he turned to face her on the viewer.

“What did you just say?” Not that he actually needed her to repeat it, he heard loud and clear the first time.

“I have our daughter. She came with me. I don’t know how and I don’t really understand why, but she’s here with me.”

“I looked for her for years. I was sure my parents were keeping her from me,” he told her, distressed. Somewhere between his processors glitching and his father deactivating him his memories got jumbled. “Show her to me,” he demanded tersely.

“I can’t, she’s with my mother right now and she doesn’t know I’m contacting you.”

“Then how can I trust you?”

“I’ll call you again tomorrow and I’ll have her with me.”

The incarcerated android shook his head ruefully. “I couldn’t keep my promise because the old man was going to pull me apart,” he confessed. “Which he did anyways. Sometimes I think he loved you and our girl more than I did,” Lore explained as he looked away again, unable to to face her.

“I’m so sorry. I wish none of this ever happened. I feel like you’re in more pain now than you ever were before,” Wesley confessed, her heart aching for him.

“Do you still love me?” he managed to ask, fearing she would deny him.

“Of course I do. Maybe that makes me just as crazy as you, but I can’t help how I feel.”

Lore looked up at the screen and finally allowed himself to see her; really take her in. She did look just as she had the last time they were together when he’d kissed her and sent them on their way up to the stream.

“Damn it, Lee, why did you have to go?”

“It was my fault. I was never meant to be there,” she said sadly.

“I don’t want to see Zoe and I don’t want you contact me again. I’m here for the next twenty consecutive life sentences, which being an android they will actually hold me to.”

“Lore, please don’t shut me out,” she begged openly.

“Tell our little girl that her papa loves her. Goodbye, Lee.”

This time the communication did cut off. Wesley was left alone in her quarters. She pulled up her legs and hugged her knees. She hadn’t felt this alone, or frightened since her first night trapped with Lore as she lay in his hammock.

Lore punched the padded cell again. Then, in a fit of frustration, he grabbed and ripped a section of the silicon padding right off the wall and torn it into pieces. He wished his brother had deactivated him after he’d forced him to commit unspeakable acts against his friends. He wished he’d never come back online after his father deactivated for suspicion of murder. The only thing he didn’t wish was that to have never met the girl he fell in love with. He would never dream of changing that.

.....

Wesley felt numb. She didn’t want to go on living in this nightmare she’d created. Why couldn’t everyone just leave her alone to live her life and love whomever she wanted? She could remember everything much clearer now, even what had happened when she was fifteen. She also remembered how she didn’t think Lore had mistreated her until everyone else convinced her that he had.

She could vividly remember the first time Lore kissed her—kissed him; the ‘new’ first time.

“But we’re just starting to get to know one another,” Lore purred as he affectionately cupped the boy’s face.

“Lore, I like girls,” Wesley told him for no other reason than he felt it needed to be said.

“Me too.”

And then Lore had kissed him. It was soft and hard; kind and cruel; but what did fifteen year old Wesley know? He’d never kissed anyone before.

She couldn’t face returning to duty so she dove into Lore’s criminal record. His official charges that earned him sentencing were genocide, assault, battery, several counts of inhumane acts of torture to sentient life, and murder.

“Great, that’s wonderful,” she muttered to herself sardonically. 

What she really wanted was to contact the lawyer or JAG officer who had defended him. Then she discovered that there never was such a person because no one had defended him. Lore had opted to plead guilty on every charge if it meant he could stay activated after the emotion chip was removed; which was a little confusing to her since he seemed to be in so much psychological pain.

She decided to test her new memories of the time they’d spent together when she was fifteen. She logged in to access her old personal logs only to find that those particular ones were sealed. 

“Why did I do that?” she asked herself aloud, frustrated that she wouldn’t know the code.

She tried a few things, but nothing worked. She wondered if she sealed them to keep herself from reading them again, or to be sure no one else did; like her mother.

Wesley thought back to what sort of thing would have worked as a key to unlock the entries. She tried nicknames and slang and number sequences. Then it hit her.

“Man cub,” she cringed. No matter the reality, no matter the history between them, Lore still called him that.

The boy’s journal entries filled the screen. It was a little strange for her to remember these things as though for the first time. In her original timeline Lore had basically ignored the teenaged boy, which was why it was so easy for him to observe him and notice when Lore took Data’s place.

In the new memories that never happened. Lore kept his distance from Data more or less and was eager to leave the Enterprise and get on with his life. He’d been looking for someone...a girl from the colony. 

“Zoe,” she winced as she recalled Lore’s comment during their recent comm call. “Wait...no crystalline entity.”

She was confused as to why Lore would have let himself be blamed for something he didn’t do. For some reason Data was still adamant that Lore was the one who had brought the entity to the colony, but the facts didn’t track. This time Lore never contacted the thing while he was on-board the Enterprise. He only made his escape after getting into an altercation with Data. The logs said as much.

“Data fought with Lore about their father,” she recalled as she read the entry. “Lore believed that Data was lying about not having his memories from their life together. When Lore confronted Data they fought and Lore ended up damaging Data. Then Lore used stollen access codes to to take a shuttle. By the time the Enterprise caught up to the shuttle Lore was gone.”

“That’s right, our chief engineer was doing something with the warp core,” she commented to herself. 

Data walked into his shared quarters and was a disturbed to find the ensign at his workstation hitting the monitor. He still wasn’t sure how to react to her betrayal, so he decided to pretend everything was fine.

“What are you doing? Surely as an engineer you know that hitting the viewer will not improve its function.”

Wesley only half heard what he was saying since she was lost in her own thoughts. “What?”

“What are you doing?” Data repeated as he tried to get her to look away from the screen and meet his gaze.

“How could you let Lore plead guilty to all of these charges? He’s your brother,” she said obvious distress.

“He manipulated me and caused unrepairable harm to dozens of people,” he countered without hesitation. So much for pretences.

“Borg drones,” she snarked back as though their lives didn’t matter.

“Correction, former Borg drones who had recently regained their individuality and were no longer mindless weapons.”

“I’m sorry. You’re right,” she said with remorse as she realized how awful she’d just sounded. Wesley started to fall apart as she held her head in her hands.

Data came around beside her and put a steadying hand on her shoulders. “You need to stop this, no good will come from it.”

The woman stood and turned into his embrace. For the first time since she’d been taken from the past she wanted to do as he asked and forget all about the other android; but she couldn’t.

“What am I going to do? The person I love threw his life away,” she lamented into his shoulder.

“You need to let him go before you throw yours away too trying to save him when he cannot be saved,” Data told her with regret.

“Can you ever forgive me?” She was on the verge of tears and she wanted to be who she was before. More importantly, she wanted to be worthy of Data again.

“I am uncertain that it is my forgiveness you need. I believe you are the one who must live with the choices you have made,” he told her. He wasn’t being unkind, but it wasn’t the answer she wanted to hear.

“Data, please just tell how I can make this up to you,” she reiterated as she looked him in the eye.

“Do not speak to Lore again and we may move past this,” he replied quite seriously.

She pulled away a little, feeling betrayed. “You know that I spoke to him? Are you spying on me?”

“I was concerned for your wellbeing. I was quite amazed to discover that they allowed you to speak with him at all.”

She worried her lower lip as she considered what he was saying. She wanted to believe him; she needed to feel like she could trust someone again.

“May I kiss you, Wes?” he added as he watched her face intently.

She almost didn’t react, she was still getting used to being referred to by her usual name. She smiled a little and nodded. Then, as he kissed her, her heart dropped into her stomach. Kissing Data was still like kissing Lore, or was it the other way around?

“Where is Zoe?” he whispered as he felt her pull away from him. He wasn’t entirely sure what her problem was now, but he didn’t want to push her.

“She’s with my mom,” she replied as she touched her fingers to her mouth.

“I can watch her for a while if you would like to lie down,” he said kindly.

“That sounds like a good idea.”

Data slowly guided her into the bedroom. As she removed her boots she looked over at him again. He could tell she had something else to say.

“Data,” she began with hesitation. “Data, can you do one more thing for me and then I swear I’ll find a way to let go?” 

“Yes, of course.”

“Can you please contact Juliana and ask her if she remembers me? I would hate to keep Zoe from her if she remembers.”

Data leaned down and kissed her forehead lovingly. “That I will do. It is possible that she will not, so I will do my best to be discreet.”

“Thank you,” she sighed.

“Now get some rest and I will check on you later.”

Wesley nodded and lay down under the covers. She just prayed that she didn’t have new nightmares waiting for her when she closed her eyes.

.....


	24. New Memories and More Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next two chapters are flashbacks to Lore being discovered by the crew of the Enterprise on Omicron Theta several years earlier and how things changed from the original timeline.

....Fearing that Lore was losing his sanity and now a threat to their safety, Dr. Soong did the only thing he could think of to save his son. He deactivated him.

The next time Lore opened his eyes it took him several seconds to compute what he was looking at. Blaring lights and a woman with a halo of red hair. 

As he lay on his back he believed for several seconds that it was his mother looking down on him. Then he refocused his ocular inputs and knew better. This red-headed woman was a stranger to him.

“Hello, do not be alarmed,” he heard a familiar voice say. He found it slightly farcical to hear his brother’s monotone greeting as the woman failed to move her mouth. It was like a very bad ventriloquist act. “You are on the Enterprise. Our landing party found you deactivated and disassembled.”

The android finally pulled his attention away from the stranger to find his brother.

“Data?” Lore asked, unsure why the other android was taking about prizes and parties.

“Yes. I am Data. How did you know my name? Do you know me?” inquired the Starfleet android.

Lore attempted to sit upright, but was stopped by the heavy bio bed cover. He grimaced as he lay his head down again. “A little help?”

Data nodded and asked Doctor Crusher to remove the no longer needed piece of medical equipment. Once it was moved, Lore swung his legs around and sat up on the edge of the bed. He was pleasantly surprised to find that he was dressed, however he didn’t recognize the clothing as his own.

“Hello Data. Of course I know you. You’re my brother,” Lore told him with a pained expression. “The better question is why don’t you remember me?”

“We are brothers?” Data asked with a touch of awe. He’d never had any indication that he’d had a family before today and now he had a brother.

“Yes. My name is Lore,” he said frankly as he searched the other android’s face for any kind of recognition.

“It is good to meet you, Lore,” Data said kindly as he extended his hand. Lore gave him an odd look but took his hand anyways. “I do not remember you because I do not remember anything from my time on Omicron Theta. My memories were wiped before I was abandoned by my creator.”

“Abandoned?” Lore repeated as he suddenly stood and released his brother’s hand. “What are you talking about? Why would father abandon you? Abandon us?”

“You appear to have become distressed. Does this mean you are capable of emotional expression?” Data inquired, his words laced in curiosity.

“Yeah sure, but I guess you still aren’t,” he replied with a shake of his head. His whole world was gone and here his idiot brother was making polite conversation—it was all too much.

“What’s the last thing you remember?” asked Doctor Crusher, inserting herself into their exchange.

Lore looked over at the redheaded woman and narrowed his eyes as though he was having trouble understanding her. “I don’t know.”

“It is peculiar that I was left out, exposed to the elements to be found and you were not,” Data noted with mild concern.

At first Lore was annoyed that he seemed to be stating that somehow their father thought Data was the better son, but then he recalled that his brother had no sense of pride. As he searched for a reason why, one finally presented itself as he remembered something important.

“I wasn’t functional,” Lore said quietly. “Something horrible happened and I stopped processing properly. Dr. Soong deactivated me until he could resolve the malfunction.”

“You seem to be functioning just fine now,” observed the doctor. “I’m Doctor Beverly Crusher by the way,” she added, bemused that Data was so caught up in the other android that he’d failed to make a simple, polite introduction. She was sure it was first for him.

“Sorry, Doc, I don’t really know what to say. I just can’t believe everything is gone. What happened?” Lore responded with a frown.

“The colony was destroyed by an unknown entity. In essence it destroyed all organic life on the planet including the people living there at the time,” Data explained plainly.

“That’s awful,” his brother said with remorse. “Everyone died?” He thought of his family, he even thought of some the colonists he never really care for. Even if they weren’t particularly kind to him they didn’t deserved to be wiped out like that.

“It would seem so. Unfortunately, it is believed that Dr. Soong perished as well.”

“And his family?” Lore added with distress.

“Family?” repeated the doctor finding it hard to believe that a hermit like Soong could have had one.

“I was unaware that Dr. Noonien Soong had any kin aside from his androids,” Data answered frankly.

“Of course because you don’t remember,” Lore offered with frustration.

Lore was still finding his new reality to be too much for him and although it was comforting to see his brother and not just a bunch of random strangers he wasn’t sure that Data was being all that helpful.

“How long ago was the colony destroyed?” Lore asked after trying to come to terms with what he knew so far.

“Approximately twenty-eight years,” replied the other android.

“Twenty-eight years,” he echoed in disbelief.

“That is correct.”

Lore was in low spirits and Data thought it might cheer him up to go on a tour of the ship. Other officers would take their visiting family members on such tours every now and again and they always seemed to enjoy themselves.

The newly reactivated android dragged his feet as he was led through the reck deck and the observation lounge. Even the holodeck didn’t seem to impress him all that much. When they arrived in Main Engineering, Data introduced him to one of his friends.

“Lore I would like you to meet Lt. Geordi LaForge. He is usually at the helm on the Bridge while I am at Ops. We spend a great deal of time in one another’s company,” Data explained.

“Is that a fashion statement, or a functional thing?” Lore asked tactlessly referring to the Junior Lieutenant’s VISOR.

“This VISOR allows me to see,” Geordi replied slightly annoyed. “Boy you sure are different from Data.”

“Yeah, well the old man believed in diversity,” Lore grumbled, still unchanged in his attitude. “It’s kind of nice though, to see that my brother has an actual friend.” 

“Did I not have many friends to your recollection?” asked Data with a tilt of his head.

“No, not really. You were well liked, but not really accepted if you know what I mean,” Lore told him as he distractedly watched as a boy came through and began working at one of the stations. “What’s with the kid? Is the Federation at war again?”

“What? No,” replied Geordi with a chuckle. “That’s Acting Ensign Crusher. He’s in a sort of work slash study program. He’s not technically an officer.”

“That’s sort of weird isn’t it?” Lore commented.

“Wesley has proven himself to be a valuable and proficient member of the crew on several occasions. Otherwise he would not be permitted in Main Engineering,” Data elaborated.

“Wait, go back. Did you just say ‘Wesley’?” Lore said as he showed the first sign of something catching his attention.

“Yes, Wesley Crusher. It is his name,” Data clarified.

“He doesn’t happen to have a twin sister does he?”

“No, he’s an only child.” This time Geordi answered. He was starting to feel uneasy about the new android’s sudden interest in the teen.

“Huh. Good to know,” said Lore as he tried to act more passive. “So who’s going to show me how the warp core works?”

Later, Lore was sitting in the officer’s lounge, staring out one of the large windows. Data was on the Bridge so he was left on his own. He couldn’t help but notice that even though his accomplished brother was the Second Officer of this ship some of the crew still appeared wary of his presence and unsure of what to make of a second Soong-type Android.

“Hi, it’s Lore, right?” Came a friendly voice to his side. “Do you mind if I join you?”

Lore turned a little and looked up briefly to see the gangly teenage boy from Engineering; a goofy grin plastered on his boyish face. 

“Sure, why not?” he replied as he tried not to sound annoyed.

“I’m Wesley. I really wanted to meet you before, but you looked pretty busy with Data and Geordi,” he explained nervously.

“Well, now you’ve met me,” Lore stated plainly as he kept his focus out the window.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bother you. I know what it’s like to be the new person on a ship. You know, when you don’t really know anyone yet. I grew up following my parents from assignment to assignment and it can get sort of lonely if you don’t make the effort to put yourself out there.”

“Look, kid, I get it that you think you’re being helpful, but you’re not,” Lore informed him as nicely as possible. “I just woke up to find my whole life was gone and my own brother doesn’t remember me.”

“You’re right. God, I’m such a dork. I’m sorry. I’ll leave you alone,” he said with self-deprecation as he stood to go.

“Did you just call yourself a ‘dork’?” The android asked in amazement as he gave the teen a sideways glance. “Get a backbone, man cub. Just because I don’t feel like making small talk doesn’t mean you should tear yourself down.”

“I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant...never mind. It was nice meeting you,” Wesley told him and then walked away.

Lore shook his head as he watched the boy go. He couldn’t have been more sure in that moment that the boy’s name was a mere coincidence. There was no way he was connected to the woman he’d loved.

.....

The next day Lore had the benefit of Lt. Tasha Yar’s company. She was pleasant enough, but he felt uneasy that he had to have an escort. He did find it curious when he caught the odd glance go back and forth between the security chief and his brother. He made a mental note to find out what exactly that was about.

“So Lore, have you always had emotions?” Yar asked with enthusiasm as they walked along.

“Yep, I was just lucky I guess. Or unlucky,” he commented as he recalled all the pain and depression they’d given him over the years.

“It’s strange how you have them and Data doesn’t. Are you sure that you were made before he was?” she questioned with suspicion.

“I am one-hundred percent certain,” he told her with a sad sort of smile. “There’s actually a better chance of instability to our positronic matrix with emotional capability.”

“You mean like whatever you were experiencing when your creator shut you down?” she offered as an example. He wasn’t sure how to feel about her knowing such a thing already.

“Did my brother tell you that?”

Tasha stopped walking and turned towards him. “That sounds so strange to my ear. That you’re brothers,” she said with a good natured laugh. “Yes, Data told me.”

“Then yes, I suppose I was fortunate that I didn’t suffer any further damage.”

“I suppose I’m glad too. Data is so unique and has always struck me as someone who could use another being like himself to help him find his place in the universe.”

“I thought he had,” Lore commented with mild confusion. “I thought that Starfleet and this ship were where he belonged.”

“I guess I meant more metaphorically,” she added after some consideration.

“Oh, right. I can see that,” he conceded. Then he thought he’d try pressing her more information. “I noticed that you and Data looked fairly chummy. Is that a purely platonic thing, or is something else going on between you two?”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m not trying to make you uncomfortable,” he clarified, although maybe he was. “I just thought that maybe you were attracted to him.”

“And if I’m attracted to him with no possible emotional complications, then maybe I’d be open to exploring an attraction to you?” she rebutted as she placed her hands on her hips.

“What? No,” he shot back, clearly offended. “I just thought that maybe he deserved to know what it was like to be in a romantic relationship. I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression.”

“Oh, no that’s kind of sweet,” she said with remorse as she relaxed her rigid posture. “I guess maybe I did jump to the wrong conclusion, sorry about that.”

“Look, Tasha, I just lost someone very close to me. Granted it happened almost three decades ago, but for me it just happened. I really have no interest in coming on to you, or anyone else.”

“That’s so sad. I’m sorry for your loss,” she said with sincerity as she gently touched his arm.

Just then her comm chirped and she received a request to report to the Bridge. Lore promised to behave himself and she took her leave.

The android continued to meander down the corridor and came across an open doorway. It looked to him as though he’d ended up in the civilian area of the ship because the room looked like it was set up as a classroom of sorts; desks in rows all facing one way.

Lore was about to continue on when he heard a familiar voice.

“Damn it,” Wesley groaned as he pulled back from whatever strange device he was working on.

As Lore approached the teen from behind he watched him suck on the side of his finger.

“Are you alright?” he asked with mild amusement. The boy reminded him of his father tinkering away in his lab; so eager to bring his ideas to life that he’d often injure himself in his flurry.

Wesley jumped a little before turning his head in the android’s direction. “Yeah. I guess I should have used a tool to hold the coupling and not my hand,” he explained.

Lore instinctively took the boy’s injured hand to examine it. There was a small, superficial burn on his index finger. “I think you’ll live,” he mused.

“Thanks,” the teen said still feeling embarrassed. 

“What are you working on?” the android asked as he watched the boy’s face.

“It’s a working model of a small scale tractor beam,” he told him with a frown.

“You want to be an engineer?” Lore noted, mostly to himself. There was something eerily similar in the boy’s facial features to the woman he’d lost. He’d been too distracted to notice it before.

“Exactly. I want to be. I’m not entirely sure that I’m any good at it,” he grumbled in that self-deprecating way.

“I think you’re plenty good at it. At least you look like you are and sometimes that’s more important than your actual skill level,” offered Lore with a good natured chuckle.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” he retorted his a shake of his head.

“Doesn’t it?” Lore rebutted. Then he just had to ask. “How old are you, Wesley?”

“I’m fifteen, why?” The teen replied.

“Fifteen, of course you are,” Lore noted as he remembered some ridiculous statement Lee had made about not being born for fourteen years; which would have made it eleven from the destruction of the colony. Which meant that if she were actually from the future as she’d claimed, she would be approximately fifteen right now. Just like Wesley...the name she gave for her brother.

“You’re certain you’re an only child?” the android questioned, unconvinced that the two weren’t connected. It could just be coincidence that they shared the same beauty marks on their cheek, couldn’t it?

“Yes, I think I’d know if I had any siblings,” Wesley said with a dubious look.

“Of course you would. Well, I can see that you have important work to do. I won’t trouble you any longer.”

Wesley pulled a face and looked at him. “Why are you being nice to me now? I know you just see me as some kid...some kind of...what did you call me?”

“Man cub,” Lore informed him with a frown.

“Exactly. I mean, I get it. You’re super intelligent and you probably hold more knowledge in your synthetic brain than ten biological people could forget.”

“Wesley, I’m sorry I acted like a jerk to you before,” the android told him sincerely.

“It doesn’t really matter. No one takes me seriously,” he said with a shrug.

“No one? I find that hard to believe since they made you an acting ensign. That sounds like some serious recognition,” he rambled as he tried to lift the boy’s spirits.

His efforts seemed to fail as the teen sat heavily in a nearby chair and stare at the ground. So Lore thought he’d change the subject. “You know I was thinking of trying to look for anyone that might have survived from the Omicron Theta colony, but I wasn’t really sure how to start.”

“That’s because there isn’t anywhere to start. Data said that there was a full investigation and they tried tracking down survivors to help piece together what happened. They didn’t find any and that was ages ago.”

“So I’m just supposed to believe that two of the most brilliant minds of our time allowed themselves to perish in some kind of natural, or supernatural disaster?” Lore rambled dismissively.

“Two? I thought it was just Dr. Soong?” Wesley asked with interest.

“Right, of course,” Lore muttered, suddenly unsure if he should be telling this kid his life story or not.

“Lore, who was it you lost?” 

“What?”

“My mom told me that you’d lost someone and she made it sound like you lost them before the colony was destroyed,” the boy explained.

“Don’t worry about it, Wesley,” Lore deflected as he gave the youth pat on the shoulder. Then he lingered a little too long as he stared into his big brown eyes. “Anyone ever tell you have doe eyes?”

“Excuse me?” Wesley shot back nervously.

“Nothing, never mind,” Lore told him as he shook off the compulsion to stay. “I should go.”

“I’m sorry if I upset you. You don’t have to go,” the teen called after him.

Lore stopped in the doorway. “You didn’t upset me. But you’re practically a child, so I’m gonna go.”

With that the android was gone and Wesley was left alone with his confusion. 

.....

“Seven years,” Lore lamented to himself as he sat in guest quarters. 

Not that he really required the room, or the bed since he didn’t sleep and had no real need for his own space; except for right now. He was trying to come to grips with the notion that maybe this Wesley Crusher was his beloved Lee...somehow. However, if he was, it was going to be a long time before he would mature and change to become the person he knew. 

Now Lore felt like the time traveller messing with the timeline. If he made a wrong move, or said the wrong thing then everything might unfold differently. He decided to turn his obsessive thoughts back to his family, more importantly to his daughter.

In his scrambled memories he recalled how his parents claimed that his daughter had vanished with her mother, but he never believed them. There was something disconcerting about the two days he was missing. He always felt as though they were lying and keeping her from him. So if Zoe was still alive she’d be thirty-one. 

Sadly, he had no idea how to track down the seemingly human woman especially if there were no records of survivors, or anyone making it off the planet. His next best option would be to search for anyone who had lived there and left just before.

After several hours of searching through the limited information he was still no further long than when he started. It was hopeless. He was now more convinced than ever that there was no point in revealing any details about their little family to his brother. He decided that Data was better off not knowing that he too had lost more than just his creator.

It was late and Lore was frustrated. He hadn’t spoken to the other android much that day and he found that he was lonely for him. So he resolved to track him down, but when he opened his door he came face to face with Wesley.

“We gotta stop meeting like this,” the synthetic man quipped as he took in the alarmed expression on the boy’s face.

“I was just about to go. I mean, I was going to come talk to you, but then I realized how late it was, so I wasn’t going to bother you,” he rambled nervously. 

Lore doubted that this kid was ever this nervous around the people he knew and felt a little bad that he was making him so uncomfortable. He blamed Lee for making him so sentimental and considerate.

“I hadn’t realized how late it was either,” Lore noted in an attempt to make the young man feel better. “I was just about to go and find Data, but I suppose I can wait until tomorrow. Do you want to come inside?” he asked, a part of him wanting the boy to oblige.

“Yeah, okay. For like a minute, maybe,” Wesley told him politely as he entered the small guest quarters.

It was no more than one small room with a bed, a dresser, desk and replicator on one wall. Since Lore didn’t eat, sleep, or have any belongings he would have been content with just the desk. Although now that Wesley was there, he was having second thoughts about the bed.

Lore made a pained face. He knew that having such thoughts about a minor were wrong. It even made him feel a little sick.

“Are you alright? You don’t look so good,” Wesley wondered as he watched the android’s face.

“I’m fine,” he replied, even though he wasn’t. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

“I was thinking a lot about what you said. How you wanted to track down people from the colony.”

“Yes and?”

“Well, I was just thinking if it was an adult it would be difficult because they can easily disguise where they’d come from. Basically they can lie,” Wesley explained as he made himself comfortable on the bed. “But if it was a child, we could search for adoptions, or families that had to register for new birth certificates—for children older than a year of age—from around that time.”

“You’re a genius,” Lore blurted as he sat down next to the boy. “One of them was an infant. A little girl born in 2335.”

“Human?” the teen asked to clarify.

“Yes. Her name was Zoe,” he beamed, a genuine smile on his face for the first time since he came back online.

“Okay. Great. So tomorrow we can start looking through records of any requests for reissued birth certificates for baby girls just beyond the region of space that was ravaged,” Wesley told him with a smile of his own. “It’s strange to see you so expressive. Data never smiles like that.”

“I can’t help it. You’ve made me so happy I could kiss you,” Lore thrilled. 

Then he took the boy’s face firmly in both hands and kissed his forehead with an exaggerated smack of his lips. Wesley laughed at his bizarre display of affection.

“You are so weird,” the boy mused.

“No weirder than you, I’m sure,” the android commented without thinking as he gently caressed the teen’s cheek with his thumb.

Wesley’s face fell and Lore knew he’d crossed a line. He pulled his hand away and stood up.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do that,” Lore told him, completely appalled by his unguarded flirtation.

“What did you mean to do?” Wesley asked as he narrowed his eyes at him.

“Not that,” Lore reassured him. “The person I lost. You remind me of them,” he confessed after a moment.

“Was he a fifteen year old boy, too?” the teen wanted to know, his voice tinted with disgust.

“No, of course not. She was a mature twenty-five year old woman,” he clarified.

“I remind you of a woman you knew?” Wesley countered, unconvinced.

“I’m sorry I touched your face. Please just go now,” he pleaded as he felt a wave of grief start to rise within him.

“Lore,” the boy said with sympathy as he witnessed the android begin to lose his grip.

“Get out!” he yelled, no longer being careful of the boy’s feelings.

Wesley did as he was told, a little afraid of what would happen if he didn’t. Lore collapsed to the floor and sobbed. He’d been pushing down his despair for too long. Even if this strange boy would one day become Lee, she would never be his exact Lee and he could never again go back and be with her. The truth was she would never exist to him here. Not in seven years—not ever.

Lore had to let her go. He tried to comfort himself with the idea that his daughter might still be somewhere out there unknown to him. But it wasn’t what he believed right now. Right now he was alone and could never imagine not being alone.

.....


	25. Crossing the Line

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continued flashback of Lore on the Enterprise several years earlier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning underaged con-consensual sex.

The next day Lore was back to his detached, uncaring attitude. Data was going on about prospects of Starfleet and asking if he would want to remain on the Enterprise indefinitely , but Lore wasn’t paying attention. He was wallowing in self-pity.

Data introduced his brother to Deanna Troi. He had become concerned for his brother’s mental health and thought he could use some counselling. The half-betazoid sat quietly as she waited for the android to initiate a conversation. However, he wasn’t really in the mood.

“Doesn’t anyone ever complain that your uniform is too revealing?” Lore asked crassly as he stared at her beautiful breasts.

“Excuse me?” she retorted taken a little off guard by his openly lurid comment and probing eyes. She could tell that he had emotions, but they were more difficult to read than those of any biological life form.

“It’s just that you’re meant to help people feel at ease and tell you their secrets. Maybe your wardrobe should be more conservative,” he explained.

“Is that what you’d like to discuss? Your modesty and how you feel put out by other people’s need to express themselves?” she countered without losing her cool.

“Huh, no not really.”

“Do attractive women make you uncomfortable?” she pressed further.

“No,” he blurted defensively. Then he had to admit that maybe they did. “Maybe a little.”

“Have you ever had an intimate relationship with a woman, or a man before? I only ask because maybe it is your inaction that fuels your feeling of inadequacy,” Troi explained quite clinically.

“Hey, hey. Slow down Freud,” Lore rebutted with offence. “I’ll have you know that I was in a loving committed relationship for three years before my world was destroyed.”

“Were you?” the counsellor asked with some doubt. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thanks,” he replied, though he was getting tired of hearing how sorry everyone was. “She was more than I deserved and I’ll never be able to replace her.”

“No one should ever be replaced, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t move on and love someone else in a new way,” she countered thoughtfully.

“Sure,” he muttered, unconvinced. “Do you think it’s messed up if I see qualities of my dead wife in someone else?”

“Well, logically speaking, you’re an android. If you see qualities of someone you cared for in someone else, whether physically or in their personality, then it stands to reason that they must actually be there. That being said, you are also an emotional being and you could be imposing emotional, or irrational constructs onto a person when they don’t actually exist.”

“Huh. That’s good to know.”

“Out of curiosity, did Data know your wife?”

“Yes he did. They were good friends. I think she cared for him more than I did,” he told her with a sad smile. “I just can’t get over how he doesn’t remember his previous life.”

“That must be hard for you. To have the comfort of a relative, but the distance created by his memory loss.”

“Yeah, it sucks,” Lore said in agreement.

“What do you think you might do now?” she asked as a way to change the subject.

“I don’t know. I think I might want to go back to my father’s lab and see if I can find any clues as where he might have gone if he was able to escape.”

“That probably won’t be possible,” she explained with a frown. “Starfleet has a team of scientists combing over it right now.”

“Fucking Starfleet. They think they can do whatever they want. I’m Noonien Soong’s son. Don’t I get a say in my own inheritance?” he ranted with distain.

“Lore, I hate to have to tell you this, but as an android you don’t have the same rights as everyone else and therefore you and Data aren’t recognized as the rightful heirs to Dr. Soong’s work.”

“What? That’s outrageous!” he yelled. “You’re telling me that Starfleet would reward my brother a position of Second Officer of a flagship in their fleet, but won’t consider him as an individual with the rights of any other sentient being?”

“That’s unfortunately correct,” Troi told him with reluctance.

“That’s insane. I’ll tell you what I plan to do now, Counsellor Troi,” he informed her crossly as he stood abruptly. “I plan to get the hell off this ship before they tag me as their property. I refuse to become one more toy for Starfleet to use as they see fit.”

“I’m sure that will never happen,” said Troi in defence of her own organization.

“I can see why my wife left Starfleet. She could see the dangers of such a complicit, all be it seemingly safe, entity,” he commented just before he left her company.

Deanna held her head in hands. She felt a little defeated that she’d only managed to upset the android more, instead of helping him to accept his new reality.

As Lore approached his guest quarters he was met by Wesley. The teen was giving him that goofy grin of his and the android just didn’t have the patience for his antics.

“Go away, man cub. I have some serious planning to do,” Lore grumbled.

“But I have some news you might want to hear,” the boy told him, his ego a little bruised.

Lore didn’t stop to chat, but continued on until he reached his little room. Wesley followed him inside.

“What? What is it?”

“I found her. At least I think I did,” he told him, the grin reappearing in his face.

“What are you talking about?” Lore shot over his shoulder with annoyance as he started typing away on his console.

“A baby girl named Zoe. I couldn’t find anything right after the disaster, but I found an adoption record for a girl named Zoe born in that system. It’s from about ten years after the end Omicron Theta. She was born the same year and her original birth certificate was lost. Making her an orphan with no record of her birth parents,” he rambled.

“That could be anyone. That baby could be any baby,” said Lore harshly in response.

“She’s described as having dark brown hair and grey-blue eyes. She had a birth defect that made it necessary to replace a couple of her limbs with synthetic parts,” he explained, refusing to let go of his excitement.

“What did you just say?” the android said with hesitation as he finally gave the teen his full attention. “She has synthetic parts?”

“Yeah, like old-school augmentations,” he said as he handed Lore the PADD.

Lore studied the information and touched the photo on the screen. The little girl pictured would have been eleven or twelve. It was difficult for him to say for certain if this was his daughter, however the facial structure was somewhere between his and Lee’s and he couldn’t help the pull at his heart and the longing he felt when looking at her.

The android read through all of the information. It could have easily been believed that her synthetic makeup was due some childhood illness, or birth defect instead of accepting that that was how she was born.

“Where is she now? This doesn’t say where she is,” Lore said with some distress.

“I don’t know that yet. I still need to try and track down her adoptive parents. The records are sealed,” Wesley explained. “Even if I do, she’s almost thirty. She could potentially be anywhere.”

“This could be her. She looks so much like her mother,” he commented without thinking.

“I guess you knew her parents. I mean obviously you did,” the boy said feeling like he was saying the wrong thing again. “It’s just that you didn’t actually tell me who Zoe was to you.”

“She was like family. Her and her parents,” Lore said vaguely not wanting to reveal too much.

“Did Dr. Soong give her the augmentations? I mean, that would really be something,” Wesley marvelled.

“I suppose he did,” Lore admitted with a grin. 

“Amazing. I can see why you feel like she’s family,” he said quietly.

“Why because she made up of the same technology as me?” Lore shot back defensively.

“No because she would have spent a lot of time with you and your creator while he helped her become a functional human being again,” the boy explained.

“Oh, right,” the android sighed with regret. He just couldn’t stop himself from arguing with the boy; it was becoming pathological. Though he and Lee argued frequently, he felt as though he had to argue with Wesley so he wouldn’t get sentimental again.

“Well, I’ll let you get back to work with whatever you’re doing,” Wesley added as he turned to leave again. “What are you doing?”

“I’m looking for a transport off this ship. I wasn’t sure where I was going, so thanks. Now I have a better idea of where I might start my journey.”

“Wait. You’re leaving the Enterprise?” 

“This is my dear brother’s home, not mine,”

“But we’ve only just gotten started. You’ve only been alive again for a few days,” Wesley lamented.

“Alive. That’s cute, kid,” he joshed as turned his attention back to his screen.

“Fine, whatever. I’ll let you know if I find the parents. Not that it matters,” the teen grumbled.

“Look, Wesley. You’re just a kid. I’m an ornery, selfish droid with no patience. Be buddies with Data and forget about me,” Lore told him firmly.

Wesley didn’t say anything in reply. He left the room as he was asked to.

.....

Lore was having trouble booking passage on a transport. It seemed like Starfleet wasn’t the only entity that refused to recognize him as an individual. It was the colony all over again. He had half a mind to show this crew that organic life wasn’t the only valid and acceptable form of life. 

He was distracted from his internal diatribe when the chime went on his door. He ignored it at first, tired of Counsellors and security officers. He’d been avoiding his good-two-shoes brother as well. A fleeting thought crossed his mind to attempt to trade places with him and steal his life, but he honestly didn’t want it.

The chime rang again and this time he reluctantly asked who was there.

“It’s Wesley,” came the quiet reply.

“What is with this kid?” he grumbled to himself. “Fine. Come in.”

The door slid open, but the teenaged boy remained out in the corridor.

“What are you doing?” Lore asked with annoyance as he cleared his screen, his message unsent. 

“You sound angry. Maybe this is a bad time.”

“All my time is ‘bad’ time. What do you want?”

“I have some news for you. Some of it’s bad and some of it’s not so bad,” Wesley said with a frown.

“Story of my life. Get in here and tell me. I promise I won’t take your head off.”

Wesley nervously stepped into the room and let the door close behind him.

“The girl...the one I showed you. She died a few years ago,” he told the android.

“Great, of course she did,” Lore huffed with frustration as he tried not to feel hopeless again. “And?”

“And...there was no way she was the girl you were looking for. Her death certificate had registration numbers of her donated augmentations. The ones that were still original from when she was little were not created by Noonien Soong,” he explained.

“How did you hack into her death certificate?”

“My mom’s the Chief Medical Officer of this ship. Which actually reminds me; please don’t tell her I got this information for you,” Wesley asked with a pained expression.

“Sure, kid,” Lore said with a sigh. “I guess I’m back to square one.”

“Yeah, sorry.”

“Don’t be. No one else ever is,” the android told him.

“Did you book a transport, yet?” the boys asked out of curiosity as he sat on the bed. There were no other chairs in the room, so it made sense that he would sit there.

“Not yet. Turns out I’m not a real person,” Lore informed him as he watched the boy make himself at home.

“You mean because of the android thing, or because of being deactivated for so many years?” he asked as he tucked a foot up under his leg.

“I was never a person,” Lore lamented.

“That’s ridiculous, of course you’re a person. Maybe Data can ask the Captain to have you registered, or recognized, or whatever it is that needs to be done,” Wesley rambled with importance.

“Thanks, but I don’t want to bother him,” the android said and then paused. He suddenly had another idea. “Acting ensigns don’t have access to shuttle crafts do they?”

“No. Although I do have the necessary piloting skills,” Wesley informed him a little proud of himself.

“I’ll bet my brother has access,” Lore said, the wheels turning in his brain. Then he moved back to his console.

“Starfleet doesn’t just lend out their shuttles. You have to have a reason to take one and even then they need to be returned,” the teen explained, feeling nervous about what Lore might be planning.

Lore stood from his chair and playfully bounced down on the mattress, next to his young guest. “What if we tell them that you’re going out for practice and I could pretend to be Data. We could go for a joyride.”

“That’s a really bad idea,” the teen told him as he pulled a face.

“Hey Wesley, why are you here?” Lore inquired as he looked the boy over again.

“I came to tell you about that girl,” he told him with mild confusion as though he knew that fact already.

“Yeah, but you could have told me that from the doorway,” the android elaborated as he leaned in a little more. “But somehow you keep hanging out with me, like we’re pals.”

“You told me to come in. If I’m bothering you, I’m sorry,” Wesley said with concern, not knowing if he messing with him, or being serious.

“No, you’re not bothering me,” he said quietly as he gave into his darker nature and put a hand on the teen’s back. 

Wesley sat up straighter, but didn’t move away just yet. He wasn’t quite sure what was happening. “I’m not?”

“Not at all. I think you have so much potential,” he mused softly as he tucked his free hand under the boy’s chin.

“You do?” Wesley asked still unsure. There was something about the way that the synthetic man was talking and making physical contact with him that wasn’t feeling quite right.

“Sure, you’re young and malleable and much too curious for your own good,” Lore said in a sing-song way.

“I think I should go now,” Wesley said quietly in response to his odd form of praise. His heart was starting to beat faster and he wasn’t sure if it was due to fear, or something else.

“But we’re just starting to get to know one another,” Lore purred as he moved his hand under the boy’s chin to tenderly cupping his cheek.

“Lore, I like girls,” he said for no other reason than he felt it needed to be said.

“Me too,” the android conceded before closing his mouth on that of his young confidant.

Wesley’s eyes went wide as he squeaked in surprise. He was about to push Lore away when he felt an exciting warmth between his legs. The teen shamelessly rolled his hips into the synthetically man’s hand and let his eyes fall closed. Then he moaned unapologetically into the android’s mouth.

After a moment, Lore shifted and pressed Wesley’s back to the bed. He settled between the teen’s legs and indulgently rubbed himself against the young man’s erection. He thought it was a touch ironic that it was the Wesley of his past—this boy’s future—who broke him free of his programming and allowed him to have sex for pleasure.

“Lore, stop,” Wesley pleaded weakly. For the first time in his life he was finding it difficult to think clearly. Although his body was telling him to keep going he knew it was wrong.

“If I stop now, we can never go back and we can never move on,” Lore whispered into the boy’s ear. “Do you really want me to stop?”

Wesley tried to focus as he looked deep into the android’s yellow-gold eyes. Everything he’d been taught about morality and decency was telling him to end this perverted misunderstanding. But then Lore somehow reached under the thick fabric of his uniform trousers and his hand found the teen’s compliant dick.

The boy gasped and bucked into the pleasurable sensations as Lore jerked him off. “Please...pl-please...” he begged.

“Please stop, or please give you more?” Lore teased. 

Wesley couldn’t find his words; he was finding it hard to breathe let alone speak. Then the synthetic man gave him another squeeze. It was too much and the boy was undone. Tears trickled down his cheeks and he groaned and came under the androids manipulations. 

Lore was astonished that he got off on watching this boy fall apart. It was almost better than actual intercourse. Almost.

The android found that he strangely wanted to comfort the boy. He couldn’t quite understand why. Maybe if was his left-over affections effecting him.

“It’s okay, Wesley. It’s okay to feel good,” Lore soothed as gently wiped the tears from the boy’s face.

“Why did you do that?” he asked, voice trembling with emotion. “How could you?”

“Because you wanted me to,” Lore told him with a grin.

“No. I never wanted this,” the boy said defensively.

“Are you going to run and tell your mother?” the android questioned. He didn’t sound mean, or offended. He was just curious what the boy would do now.

“No. I couldn’t,” Wesley confided as he frowned.

“Because you liked it. Because you want to do it again,” Lore said softly as he slowly moved away so his companion could do as he liked. “Maybe next time I’ll let you be on top,” he added with smirk.

“What?” the teen shot over his shoulder as he sat up and faced away from his assailant. 

“Next time I can let you do what you want to me. It’s only fair,” he said with a casual shrug of his shoulders.

“I never want you to touch me again,” the boy said with conviction.

“Exactly. You can touch me,” Lore reiterated, refusing to stop his sick game.

“What is wrong with you? I’m fifteen,” Wesley yelled in his face.

“And you liked how it felt,” the android told him again. “I understand that you’re angry. You’re whole life has been rules and regulations. You’ve never dared to be selfish, or deviate from what was expected of you.”

“Because I’m a good person,” he snapped.

“I never said that you weren’t. I wouldn’t be so interested if you weren’t so good,” Lore said with a hint of sadness. He could tell that he was losing any footing he thought he might have had. He’d be lucky if this kid didn’t report him, but he could see that he was never going to give into temptation again.

“Wait...are you trying to say that you did that because you feel something for me?” Wesley asked, suddenly unsure again.

Lore dared to reach out and touch his face again. He was more than a little surprised when the boy didn’t so much as flinch.

“I like you more than you can know,” he confessed with affection despite his own reservations. He knew this bad idea, heck the kid just told him it was; but he couldn’t help himself.

“So that wasn’t just a sick, twisted thing you were doing to mess with me?”

“No, Wesley. I really do like you,” Lore told him sincerely.

Then the boy did something bold; he leaned into Lore this time and kissed him. It was messy and needy, but it sent a thrill through the android like the first time Lee had kissed him of her own volition. Lee...Wesley was just like his Lee.

“Do you want me?” the android whispered with need.

“Yes,” the boy confessed between kisses.

“I’m all yours.”

......

There were a lot of secret glances and even more secretive get togethers after that. Wesley had never even gotten the nerve up to ask out that girl he liked in advanced physics, but when he was with Lore he forgot all about her.

“Hey, Wes, have you seen Lore lately?” Geordi asked the teen as they passed one another in Engineering.

“Lore, no. Why?” Wesley asked in return feeling put on the spot.

“It’s just that you seem to be spending a lot of time with him and I thought you might know where he’s gotten to. He’s been acting a little oddly,” Geordi explained.

“I haven’t seen him today,” he replied. It was the truth, he hadn’t. “What do you mean by odd? Isn’t Lore odd in general?” he added with a nervous laugh.

“Data caught him trying on one of his uniforms yesterday. He tried to play it off as though he was interested in joining Starfleet, but it seemed kind of suspicious,” the Lieutenant continued as he stepped a little closer. “He was asking a lot of questions about our shuttles too and even tried to get Data to ‘take him for a spin’.”

“That does sound odd,” Wesley said in agreement. He thought the android would settle in now that they were spending so much time in one another’s company, but clearly he’d been mistaken. He tried to push the hurt he was feeling away.

“He hasn’t done anything weird with you has he? Or asked you about vital systems of the ship?” Geordi asked with concern.

“No I don’t think so,” he said as nonchalantly as possible and prayed that his face wasn’t bright red.

“Well just let me, or Data know if that changes. I would hate for him to try to make off with a shuttle craft while we were looking the wrong way.”

“Of course, Geordi. You can count on me,” he told him with false enthusiasm. The truth was he felt sick and he didn’t know what think, or who to trust.

When Wesley entered Lore’s guest quarters next he got a bit of a surprise.

“Hello, Wesley. I was looking for Lore,” said the uniform-clad android. “Have you seen him? He is quite the fascinating, yet elusive character.”

“Cut it out Lore. I know it’s you,” Wesley huffed as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. 

“You are mistaken. I am Data. I am boring and have no emotions,” the android said adamantly. Then his face twitched. “Aw fuck,” he cursed, very unlike Data.

“What the hell was that?” the teen asked with obvious alarm.

“Just an old gift that keeps on giving,” Lore grumbled as he went to the lavatory go try and look at his infernal spasming cheek.

“That’s so weird,” Wesley commented without thinking from over Lore’s shoulder. “Does it usually do that?”

“No. Stop staring would you? You’re making me feel self-conscious.”

“I can probably fix that for you, but first you have to promise to take that uniform off,” the boy began to say, eliciting a mischievous smirk from Lore. “And return it to Data,” he finished unmoved.

“You’re no fun,” the android pouted.

“Lore, whatever you’re thinking of doing, don’t. Geordi and Data are both onto you.”

“Hey, you’ve got one of those eidetic memories, right,” Lore said offhandedly as he continued to watch his eye wink in the mirror. “You’ve probably seen launch sequences at some point.”

“No I don’t and no I haven’t,” Wesley replied, fibbing through his teenaged teeth. He was started to feel a little used and that he should have known better than to trust a man he barely knew—an android who had been deactivated by this own creator no less.

“Hmm, looks like I’ve been a bad influence on you and now you’re lying with ease,” the android said disparagingly as he looked over his shoulder at him and winked unintentionally; although it seemed rather fitting.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Besides, if Data thinks you might take a shuttle they’ve probably already changed all the codes for security reasons,” he rambled in an attempt to convince him.

“You’re probably right,” Lore conceded as he came back into the main room and sat heavily on the bed. “Look, you go fetch something so I can fix this. I’ll change while you’re gone and then we can put this whole unsettling business behind us.”

“Really? Great. I’ll be right back. I probably have a tool you can use in my quarters,” Wesley told him, words quick with excitement. He was really hoping that the android wasn’t just telling him what he thought he wanted to hear and that they could just forget the whole thing.

Except that Lore was just having him on. When Wesley re-entered the guest quarters Lore was still in the yellow uniform. He put out his hand without a word and snatched the tool from the teen. He went directly to the mirror and corrected the facial tick.

“That’s better,” he said with a sigh of relief. When he came back out, he was mildly surprised to see the boy was still in the room. “Aren’t you going to go tell your friends my terrible plans?”

“No. I won’t tell them anything. I’m going to leave and hope that you don’t do anything at all. No one would believe you to be Data, anyways.”

“Actually at least five crew members already did earlier today,” Lore said with a shrug. “Either they don’t know my brother very well, or you just know me too well.”

“Goodbye, Lore. I should have known better than to let myself fall for you,” the boy said with a pained expression, but before he could reach the door the android caught his arm. “Let me go.”

“I can’t,” Lore stated with panic rising in his chest. “I can’t risk you telling anyone. I don’t want to be anyone’s property anymore. I never want to be deactivated against my will again. It’s humiliating and horrible,” he explained with obvious distress. “You could come with me.”

“I can’t do that. No one will let you get away with kidnapping me,” Wesley said sadly as he tried to wrench his arm away. “I won’t tell anyone.”

Lore wanted to let the boy go. He knew he had been loyal to him so far, but then a terrible, hateful thing came to mind. The nightmares his beloved had when he’d first met her. He wondered with sick fascination if this the moment he was meant to harm the boy—more than he had already.

“Maybe we can have one last moment together,” Lore said softly as he tried not to show all his cards. “I really do care for you and we may never see each other again.”

Wesley relaxed a little. He didn’t know why, but he trusted the synthetic man. Maybe he was just fooling himself. “I’m really going to miss you,” Wesley confessed as he willing stop fighting and stepped a little closer.

Lore released the boy’s arm and claimed his mouth, tangling both his hands into the youth’s hair as he did. He couldn’t deny the familiar feeling he was getting from kissing him. 

“Oh Lee, I miss you much,” he whispered almost inaudibly when they parted—almost.

“Did you just call me Lee?” Wesley said with concern. It wasn’t that far from his name, but something about the android’s whimsical expression and wording was freaking him out.

“Shh, it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters now as long we’re together,” Lore said in a sing-song manner.

Now Wesley was sure; something was wrong and he didn’t like the bizarre shift in the android’s personality. He tried to pull away again, but Lore must have anticipated his resistance and had him in a vice-like grip; a hand on each of his shoulders. He went to cry out, but Lore muzzled the teen with his mouth again, thrusting his tongue down his throat.

The next thing Wesley knew he was on his front on the bed and his pants had been mercilessly yanked down to his ankles. He couldn’t see Lore behind him, but could feel his weight as he leaned froward across the boy’s back to hold him down and keep him in place.

“The more you resist, the more this will hurt. Just try to breath and relax,” Lore whispered into one of Wesley’s ears.

“What are you going to..?” he began to ask, but the words left him as he felt two very strong, very insistent fingers slowly push inside him. When the youth whimpered in discomfort, Lore pulled his hand away and rubbed a few calming circles on his back. 

“Shh. Be a good boy and relax,” Lore said calmly.

“You’re sick,” Wesley snapped, his face half crushed into mattress.

“Maybe I am, but don’t you want to help me? Don’t I deserve to feel better?” the android asked curtly as he reapplied his fingers. The boy grunted and gasped as he reacted to the unwelcome assault on his body. “Sorry little man cub, but somethings are meant to be,” he added after a moment almost regretfully.

Then, when Lore couldn’t control his need any longer, he swiftly pushed his erection deep into his unwilling lover. It was like coming home, even it the anatomy was wrong and he had never sodomized his wife. In his demented grief he was right where he belonged and one day his cruelty would be an important catalyst for his lover. He just really didn’t know exactly how.

Wesley panted through the sensation that he was being split in two and after a few moments, to his surprise, he could feel pleasure through the pain. He knew he shouldn’t, but he actually let himself give in and stop fighting. He even started to participate, shifting a little and rubbing his own erecting into bed. Lore was pleasantly surprised and wondered if he wasn’t being cruel enough, but he didn’t have the heart to cause the boy anymore harm than he already had.

When he reached his climax and released his synthetic cum into his lover he pulled out. He couldn’t find it in himself to look at the youth again. Instead he looked away as he began to pull his black uniform pants up.

“Wait,” Wesley pleaded quietly as he sat up on the bed; his own erection still unsatisfied.

Lore stopped and dared to meet his gaze. “What?”

“Please,” he said pathetically. “Please don’t leave me. I’ll do whatever you want. You can do that again whenever you want to,” he begged with tears in his eyes. “Just don’t go.”

“I have to go and you have to finish growing up. That’s how this works,” the android replied as he finished dressing.

Then Lore sat down next to the boy and put a comforting arm around him. He couldn’t quite believe that Wesley still wanted him to stay after how he’d just treated him. 

The boy leaned into the synthetic man and hid his face into the bend of his neck. Lore did the only thing he could do and kissed the youth’s exposed cheek before jerking him off, he couldn’t stand how pained he looked. The boy came quietly with a little sob.

“Clean yourself up before you go home to your mother. You don’t want her figuring out what you’ve been up to,” Lore told him just before he moved away again.

The last Wesley heard about Lore was that he actually managed to take off with one the smaller shuttle crafts. They were in the middle of routine maintenance on the warp core and subsequently it was offline. The rogue android had a half day start and by the time they found the abandoned shuttle he was no where to be found.

No one would hear from him again until he was accidentally called back to his father via the homing recall program that was meant only for Data.

That was when the nightmares started. Wesley would imagine that Lore had returned in Data’s place and believed that the boy had betrayed him. Sometimes the dreams were downright terrifying, but sometimes they were perversely pleasurable.  
......


	26. Family Ties

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Geordi encourages Data to see things differently.

It was late in the day on Atrea IV when Dr. Juliana Tainer accepted the communication from her estranged android son. She tried not to get her hopes that Data was ready to reconcile.

“Hello Data. How are you?” she said with affection as she couldn’t help but smile at his image.

“I am not unwell, however there have been a few bizarre developments recently that I wished to ask you about,” he told her as calmly as he could, careful to keep his voice down so that he wouldn’t disturb Wesley in the next room.

“What sort of developments? Are you having trouble with your positronic matrix?” she asked with concern.

“No. As I said, I am fine. It is a curious concern about a young woman I know. A woman that perhaps you may have known,” he said vaguely hoping he would alarm her.

Juliana made a perplexed face and seem to lean in closer to her viewer. “Alright, well what’s the woman’s name?”

Data was about to reflexively say Wesley Crusher, when he recalled that wasn’t her name when she was on Omicron Theta. “I believe you would know her as Lee.”

“Lee?” she repeated with a squint of her eyes. “I don’t understand.”

“She has dark hair and eyes and may have been close with Lore during your time on Omicron Theta,” he said with hesitation.

“Data, where is this friend now?” she asked as she put a hand to her heart. 

The android paused again. He couldn’t tell if she remembered her or was simply becoming upset because he’d mentioned his brother.

“Do you remember this woman?”

“Did your brother put you up to this?” she shot back without answering his question.

“It would seem that you do remember. She has her daughter with her,” he said softly as he observed her intently.

“Zoe?” she said as she put her hand to her mouth this time. “Her little girl is alive?”

“Yes. Did Lore never explain to you that Lee was a time traveller?”

“No,” she gasped. “How could he not have told us? We were so afraid that he’d done something to them. You have no idea how horrible it was.”

“I have some idea,” Data rebutted with a frown. “May I ask, do you believe Lore was instrumental in the demise of the colony?”

“On Omicron Theta? Not at all. He was in pieces when that thing attacked. We were only afraid of him because of the disappearances.”

“So he was innocent? I was not expecting that he would be,” Data commented dishearten.

“Data, I know you haven’t quite forgiven me for my hasty decision to leave you behind, but I really feel like I should come and be with you and Lee and the little one right now. Can you please find a way to let me?”

The android considered the notion for a moment, but couldn’t deny that Wesley might benefit from having Juliana back in her life, even if he couldn’t.

“Yes, of course Dr. Tainer. You deserve to see your granddaughter again,” he replied.

“Thank you!” she said with gratitude as she clapped her hands in appreciation. “Does Lore know about Lee yet?” she added after a beat.

“Yes, he does, though he has no interest in reconnecting with her or their child. It is probably for the best.”

“You would know,” she said with a knowing air. “I refuse to speak with him after all the evil he’s done.”

“Please do not take offence, however do you not think that it was your accusations of harming his own family that may have been the catalyst in his less than ethical behaviour?”

“Data, I am offended, but I also know that at the time—before you lost your memory—you believed it too,” she informed him bluntly.

“Did I?” he asked with curiosity. “That is the first I have heard of this.”

“Well stay away from Lore, or it won’t be the last.”

......

Satisfied that he’d set things in motion with Juliana, Data set off to find Zoe and Beverly. He didn’t like that the computer stated their location as the cybernetics lab. He frowned as he got into the turbolift. He was ready to request his destination, but someone stopped the doors from closing all the way. It was Grady.

The android’s frown deepened as he locked eyes with the youth. Grady didn’t appreciate the look he was given, but he wasn’t ready to surrender just yet.

“Look I know I made of mess of things and I understand that you’re probably mad at me right now,” the young man said as he quickly looked away. “But your ship is disembarking from the Starbase in a few hours and I need to know where we stand.”

Data entered his destination and lift began to move. Grady wasn’t used to the synthetic man ignoring him and it made him feel uneasy. 

“I’ve spoken with Deanna,” he continued, “and she’s willing to invite me to stay for a time as her guest. This way I won’t be intruding on you and your girlfriend, but we can still have time to work out where we go from here.”

The lift reached its destination and the doors opened again. Data still wasn’t sure how he was meant to react. He’d just found out that the woman he loved had betrayed him for years with his own brother. Grady may have left him once, but it wasn’t out of spite, it was for his own good.

Data walked a few paces and paused. Grady took it as sign that he should follow. As he came to stand next to the android he held his breath, anticipating the worst.

“I would very much like the opportunity to discuss what it is we are to one another; that is if it will not trouble you to remain on the Enterprise?” Data said slowly as he finally addressed his former lover.

“No trouble at all,” Grady said quietly as tried his best not to get overly excited.

“Good. Then you may tell Deanna that you accept her invitation and I will come to speak with you when I am able,” he added with the ghost of a smile. “I must warn you that there are some unusual events that have transpired that I must attend to first.”

“Sure, whatever time you need,” the young man said with a nod. What he really wanted to do was hug him, but decided not to press his luck. “I’ll just get out of your hair.”

Data watched as Grady backed up and returned to the lift. The android instinctually touched a hand to the top of his head as he contemplated the odd comment the young man made before departing.

“It’s just a saying,” Grady said with a laugh as lift doors closed.

Data shrugged and turned his attention back to finding the girl who supposedly belonged to his brother.

He found Doctor Crusher and Zoe in the cybernetics lab with Geordi. The doctor had her granddaughter on her lap while the Chief Engineer ran a scan of the little one.

“Geordi, what are you doing with Zoe?” Data inquired as he walked in and examined the scene.

“Oh Data! I’m glad you’re here,” Geordi said cheerfully as he continued his scan. “Isn’t she just the most incredible thing you’ve ever seen?”

“Zoe is not a thing. She is a living, sentient being.” Data firmly corrected his friend with a disparaging look.

“I know, I know,” Geordi said without losing any momentum. “But she’s the first of her kind.”

“She looks pale. Has she eaten recently?” the android asked with concern.

“I fed her when we were in my quarters,” replied Beverly without missing a beat. “And before you ask, she had a nap too. I know it’s been some time since I’ve taken care of a young child, but you never forget how,” she added as she bounced the girl on her knee a little. Zoe giggled and held out her hand to Data.

“Dada!” she exclaimed.

“Did she just call you ‘dada’?” Geordi wanted to know with some reservation.

“It is how she pronounces my name. I assure you that she does not believe me to be her father,” Data explained. He could tell the small child really wanted to make contact, so he obliged and let her take his hand.

“Up, Dada,” she said quite forcefully.

“You realize this means that you had some sort of actual relationship with her,” Geordi mused. “If only we could find a way to review her memories like we can yours.”

“That is highly unlikely since she is part organic,” Data informed him as he gave in again and took the little girl in his arms. He found it slightly unnerving that her eyes looked so much like his father’s with their blue-grey irises.

“She’s really taken with you,” Beverly said with a big grin. “I think it’s wonderful that you meant so much to her even back in your early stages of development.”

“I only wish we could know what her father meant to her,” Data noted with a frown. 

“Pino?” Zoe said with a tilt of her head that reminded Geordi of Data.

“What is pino?” Geordi asked as he checked on his readings.

“I have no idea,” the android stated at a loss.

Zoe pressed her little fingers into his chest. At first it looked like a random gesture, but then he discerned a pattern. 

“What is it?” Beverly asked with interest.

“If I am not mistaken she is playing ‘twinkle twinkle little star,” Data said with amazement. “I believe she means piano.”

“You play piano?” Beverly questioned. She didn’t really doubt that he could, but had never actually seen him do it.

“Not often, however it is possible that I did frequently with Zoe,” he remarked as she continued her performance with her fingers and began to hum the tune as well. “I only wish that her verbal skills matched her musical recall.”

“Zoe, love, what else did you do with Uncle Data?” the doctor asked as she tickled the little ones sides. “Not ticklish, huh?” She was slightly disappointed that she got no reaction.

“Maybe she’s too intelligent to be ticklish,” Geordi offered, knowing that it was absurd to think so.

“What did Zoe call her father if you’re dada?” Beverly wondered.

“Papa,” Data told her with a frown.

“Papa?” Zoe said a little sadly before resting her head on her uncle’s chest.

“Poor thing. Maybe we should take her back to her mother,” the doctor said as her heart went out to the girl for missing her father.

“Wesley is sleeping. She was exhausted,” Data told his girlfriend’s mother.

“Then let her sleep. I have to get back to Sickbay, but I trust you two have everything under control.”

“Yeah, thanks, Doc,” replied Geordi as he looked over to her to acknowledge her departure.

“What have you been able to discern with your scans thus far?” Data inquired with interest.

Geordi stopped smiling for the first time since the android’s arrival. His friend could tell that he was growing concerned about Zoe.

“You know how you have that glow that only I can see with my VISOR?” Data nodded with understanding. “Well she has it too. I know that has nothing to do with the scans I’ve been running, but her glow got a little dimmer when you two started talking about Lore.”

Data frowned as he felt his niece’s little grip tighten on him at the mention of his brother’s name. “She is understandably upset. She has been taken from the only home she has ever known.”

“Yeah a home that involved her mother and her father. I just can’t reconcile with the idea of Lore as a loving husband and father.”

“Husband?” the android echoed with confusion.

“Yeah, that’s what Beverly said. She said they were basically married. Didn’t Wes tell you the same thing?”

Data thought about the story he’d been told and he had to agree that it had sounded that way, perhaps he’d just been too emotionally caught up to hear it.

“She wants to save him,” Data said quietly with a touch of sorrow. “She says she is still in love with him.”

“Wow, I can’t even begin to imagine how hard that is for her; or for you for that matter.”

“He is a killer. I cannot in good conscience help him to be free from his imprisonment. Zoe would be safer with him locked away.”

“You mean Wesley is safer,” his friend said with a knowing air.

“I would feel differently if he had shown any signs of remorse once the emotion chip had been removed, however he did not. He still claimed that he was right to ruin humanity.”

“Look, I don’t want to get into it again, but do you ever think that he deserves better than to be locked away in isolation? I mean, how can he ever be rehabilitated if he never interacts with anyone, or has the chance to receive therapy?”

“You are too kind, my friend,” Data said with affection. “I could not condone the consequences if he were to harm someone charged with helping him. What if he were to escape and begin his cruel mission all over again?”

“Then why not deactivate him? Why let him suffer?”

“Why do you believe he is suffering?” Data asked unconvinced. “He had no remorse therefore he should have no qualms about living with his actions and misdeeds.”

“Do you really believe he had no remorse, or is it easier to think that he didn’t? Didn’t he tell you that he loved you?” Geordi’s expression was pained and Data could tell that Zoe was mirroring his mood.

“I am surprised that you would come to his defence, Geordi.”

“I’m not exactly, but maybe things feel a little deferent now that I know he had a family of his own; a family that was ripped away from him without explanation.”

“That is not true. Wesley told him that she may leave abruptly one day,” Data corrected him.

“Yeah, but hearing that it could happen and experiencing it are too entirely different things,” his friend said with a heavy heart. “Besides I doubt that he ever imagined that his daughter would disappear too.”

Then Geordi lightly caressed the top of the little girl’s head and Data finally understood. His friend wasn’t thinking like a victim, he was thinking like a father. In a couple of months he was going to have a child of his own and probably couldn’t fathom having Robin and their baby suddenly taken from him.

“What should I do?” Data questioned as he continued to hold Zoe tightly to him.

“Maybe you should talk to him. It’s been a couple of years, he may have changed his attitude by now.”

“I may be left without any other option. I must confess that I am curious to hear what he has to say now that I know more about his past,” Data conceded.

.....

“Hey Droid, get this. You have another incoming comm,” came Mr. Fender’s gravelled tones over the comm unit in Lore’s cell.

Lore was seated on the bench this time. It seemed that the powers that be didn’t much care for his previous outburst and had restrained him further in the form of titanium chains about his wrists and ankles; practically forcing him to remain where he was. He was almost shocked that he would be allowed another conspicuous call so soon.

“I’d tell you I don’t want to take it, but I doubt anyone would care,” Lore grumbled as he stared at an indiscernible stain on the padded floor.

“Humph, you’re right. I don’t,” replied Fender with a horse laugh at his expense.

Then the guard’s voice was replaced by that of his brother who appeared on the view screen.

“Lore, I need to speak to you about a very important matter and I would appreciate your cooperation,” said Data, diving right into his purpose for talking to him.

“Aw, no pleasantries? No “hello, how have you been”?” Lore muttered sarcastically as he continued to watch the floor.

“I can already tell that you have not been well. Are you always restrained in such a manner?” Data asked as he observed the disturbing new chains that connected the other android to the wall behind him.

“What these old things? I thought I’d get fancy; dress up a little for you,” he snarked as he moved his arms dramatically to show off his new accessories, causing them to jingled.

“I see that you are still argumentative,” Data noted with a frown.

“It’s all I have left. You should hear the big debates I get into with myself sometimes. Talk about epic,” said Lore as he continued to ignore the seriousness of his predicament.

“Lore, I need to speak to about your charges. Wesley has not been able to move on from her attachment to you and wants to believe that perhaps you were not quite in your right mind when you committed the bulk of your crimes.”

Lore flinched a little at the sound of his long-lost wife’s alternative name. He did his best to let it go.

“I think I was just fine when I tricked the old man into installing your chip into my brain,” he rebutted with the shrug of one shoulder. 

“That may be true, however you may not have been when you accidentally maimed our father and subsequently caused his early demise,” his brother pointed out frankly.

“Don’t sugar coat it. I killed him...with my bare hands,” Lore said with distain never once looking up at the screen.

“That is not what happened. Dr. Soong was still alive when you made your escape,” Data corrected him again.

“Then why are my charges for murder and not man-slaughter?”

“Because you did have a lawyer and you did not contest them. An error for which I now recognize as something I should have corrected myself.”

“You what?” That got his attention. Lore finally squinted up at the viewer as he tried to figure out why his unemotional brother was suddenly feeling guilty about how his sentencing went down.

“It has come to my attention that I could have done more for you after you were apprehended.”

“Oh yeah, puppet, did this little cricket sound like a woman who didn’t know how to drop something when she was explicitly told to?”

“Cricket?” Data inquired. Then he realized that his brother was making a reference to Pinocchio and his conscience—a cricket. “Wesley is only one of the reasons why I am reviewing records.”

Lore frowned and went back to looking at the floor and that stain was really starting to bug him. “Whatever. I don’t care.”

“I believe that you do. How could you not want a chance at rehabilitation now that you know your daughter is alive?”

Lore made another distasteful face and shook his head. It didn’t escape his notice that Data didn’t mention having a chance with his wife. “You’re the man.”

“What man?”

“The one she was in love with when she turned up on Omicron Theta. The man who cheated on her,” Lore told him with a sneer. “Shame on you brother.”

“It was a misunderstanding. I did not technically cheat, I only strayed momentarily,” Data rambled as he tried to defend his actions unnecessarily.

“You have been living among humans for too long. That’s the most arrogantly human thing I think you’ve ever said,” replied his brother with further distain.

“Lore, I did not contact you to discuss my life, but yours. Do you want my help, or not?”

The incarcerated android looked up at his brother again. This time he looked worried. “Why do you sound angry? Did you put that damned chip in your head? You should have destroyed it.”

“My emotions are not from Father’s chip. They are my own,” Data clarified.

“No fucking way,” Lore cursed in amazement.

“I do not believe you need to be so abrasive.”

Lore ignored his brother’s comment about his use of language. He’d had everything else taken from him he wasn’t going to start censoring his curse words as well.

“You’re telling me that almost four decades after you get switched on you’ve found your own damn emotions?”

“Yes, I suppose I am. However, to be fair, it was your influence that jump started my systems to seek out a proxy to recreate the emotions you gave me,” Data explained.

“Shit,” Lore commented as he processed this new information. 

“Lore, do you or do you not want to appeal your charges?” the Starfleet android asked again with a hint of annoyance.

“Is there any chance of things turning out worse than they already are?” Lore inquired with some hesitation. “I don’t want to be deactivated and I really don’t want to end up in the Daystrom Institute as their guinea pig, or worse—used for spare parts.”

“I would not allow that to happen. My goal would be to have you moved so that you could benefit from counselling and eventually be allowed to interact with others members of the colony.”

“Other prisoners, you mean,” Lore reiterated with a frown. “I don’t know that I play well enough with others to be able to do that.”

“Not yet, but with time and the proper resources you may be able to eventually,” Data elaborated. “Besides what good will come of you serving centuries of isolated imprisonment only to then be released back into civilized society?”

“Oh Data, always the optimist. You presume that there will be any civilized societies left that far into the future.”

“I will keep you informed of my progress,” Data continued, side-stepping his brother’s mean-spirited words. “I may not be able to contact you again until I have a proper representative.”

“Ugh, lawyers...fine,” Lore replied with a groan. “Oh and Data,” he added quickly as he jingled his chains again, “can you see about getting these infernal things removed. They may look fashionable, but they really aren’t my style.”

“I will do what I can,” Data told him with a ghost of a smile.

......


	27. Droid vs Madman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lore has had enough of being the good little prisoner.

Lore waited impatiently for several days to hear back from his brother, or the very least the lawyer he said he would employ. The only indication he got that anything was actually being advocated on his behalf was when Mr. Fender arrived back in his cell to remove his restraints.

The guard entered with two other men to stand by the cell door. Lore often likened Fender to the human equivalent of a Klingon. In fact, he wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the man had Klingon heritage. He was quite large and quite devoid of humour.

“I bet you like seeing me in these restraints, Fender,” Lore commented suggestively as the guard bent down unlocked the android’s ankle cuffs.

“They should have gagged you while they were at it,” he grumbled in response. “That mouth of yours is dangerous.”

“Awe, that’s so sweet,” Lore retorted with a sarcastic air. “I never would have guessed that you saw me to be any kind of threat.”

“Hardly,” Fender added with a snort of derision. “You can just get so annoying, the way you run your mouth off.”

The android frowned at his rude comment and pulled away suddenly as the guard moved to his hands. “Be gentle.”

“Don’t try anything, Droid, I mean it,” the large man warned as he roughly took one of Lore’s wrists.

“Maybe you should leave me chained up,” the prisoner teased with a lurid edge. “Maybe you want to, eh big man?”

Fender pulled a face to convey his disgust and Lore feigned a kiss in his direction. 

“Knock it off, or I’ll leave you as you are. Orders or not,” Fender said sharply, tired of Lore’s sick game.

“Come on, let me have a little fun. It’s been a long two years,” he rebutted playfully.

“Well then, let’s hope it’ll be another two years before I have to come back in here,” Fender said evenly as he almost smiled.

The guard finished the last lock and collected the chains. Then he took his time with collar at his neck. He seemed to tighten it intentionally for a moment before removing it. If Lore hadn’t been an android he certainly would have choked. 

Now that his hands were free, it took everything in him not to reach out and give the guard a taste of his own medicine. He would have loved to see how brash Fender was after he’d strangled him a little, but Lore closed his eyes instead and waited for the brute to move away, knowing that violence wouldn’t solve anything.

“I want to speak to your superior!” Lore demanded as the trio of guards left his cell and slammed the door shut; cutting him off again. “Your manners are atrocious and you could have been more gentle with me! Expect a severe reprimand, my friend!”

But no one was biting; and no one cared what he had to say. Lore was left alone with his thoughts again and now that he could stand and move around once more, he began to pace. For hours, he walked back and forth in the small space like a caged animal.

For almost two years the android hadn’t really given any thought to what his life could be if he ever regained his freedom. He’d been racked with guilt and remorse—something he’d kept to himself—about how things had gotten out of hand; things his unstable mind couldn’t control at the time.

Now there was a light at the end of the tunnel. A possibility of redemption; or at least the mirage of a possibility. Having no word in a almost a week was starting to wear on him. It was like a new kind of torture not knowing what was going on beyond his little cell. So, Lore began to do something he hadn’t done in a long time. He began to plot.

If Data changed his mind and decided not help him, or worse to turn him over to the cybernetics specialists at Daystrom, he was going to need another way out. He was done being good; he was tired of playing by Starfleet’s rules. After all—he was better than all of them and vastly more intelligent.

After four days of pacing he stopped and calmly sat on his little bench.

“Hey Fender,” Lore called up to the comm, uncertain he would get a response. “Come on, I know you’re listening. You’re always listening.”

“What do you want, Droid?” replied the familiar gravelled tones through the speaker.

“Ah, my good man,” he said why a sly smile. “I just remembered something very important that I need to relay to my wife. You know, that woman that contacted me about a couple of weeks ago?”

“I thought you said you didn’t have a wife?” Fender rebutted with a snort of derision.

Lore frowned and crossed his legs. “I know, I know, but the truth is that we did live together. It was one of those secret affairs,” he told him as he easily bent the truth. “Look it’s important.”

“No outside communications for prisoners in isolation. Technically, I shouldn’t even be speaking to you right now,” the guard informed him, unmoved by his request.

“But you let me talk to her before,” Lore reminded the disembodied voice.

“Sorry, that wasn’t my decision. Besides, didn’t you just speak to that other Droid?”

“Hmmm, that was several days ago and I’ve decided that he can’t be trusted. It occurred to me that he might be trying to steal my wife.”

“Not my problem...like I said; I can’t make those kinds of decisions,” Fender said without sympathy.

“Then I demand that you speak to someone who can make that kind of decision.”

“That involves forms that will need filling out and lengthy procedures to follow,” grumbled Fender. “That’s a lot of hassle for a request that will most likely be denied.”

The android wasn’t ready to give up. “I just need to get her a message,” he said with more obvious distress as he stood. “Why can’t you help me?”

“I think someone needs a little time out,” snarked the guard as he turned off the comm.

Lore recognized the click that signalled that Fender was done talking. He never once believed that he ever stopped listening. So he continued to speak and hoped that he would get what he wanted in the end.

“Oh Lee...what am I going to do? That man won’t let me speak to you,” he ranted to himself as he ran his hands through his unkept hair. “I love you so much. I need to see you. I want to see you again. They won’t let me,” he muttered as his facial expressions became more animated and his words became more erratic. “Why won’t they let me? Don’t they know how much I need you? Don’t they know how horrible it was when I thought you were dead. I thought you were dead! You were dead, but now you’re not,” he continued as he began hitting himself in side of the head; distraught. “I need to save you! I need to keep you safe!”

The comm crackled and Lore pretended to ignore it. He suppressed a smirk as Mr. Fender spoke to him.

“Quit acting all crazy, Droid. I know you’re having me on,” scolded the guard.

“How can you say such a cruel thing? The love of my life is out there, alone and scared! She needs me!” he yelled irrationally up at the ceiling. 

“Stop your tantrum like a good puppet, or I’ll cut your strings.”

Little did Fender know, that that was exactly what he wanted.

“I thought you were my friend,” Lore snapped back with disgust. “I thought you would want to help me.”

“You need help alright; you need rewiring,” scoffed the guard.

“Do I? Do you think that will help?” he asked as he pulled up a sleeve and ripped open the dermal covering over his wrist. He knew if he were human no one would ignore him for what he would do next.

Lore yanked a coolant tube free of from his internal workings at his wrist and it very graphically sprayed fluid all over his cell and clothes. He mused that he was adding to the variety of staining already on the floor.

“You sick little monster,” called Fender with alarm. Then the comm cut out again.

“Maybe that’s not enough,” Lore added with a desperate flare to his voice. 

Then he proceeded to lift his shirt and open one of the many panels in his abdomen before dramatically shoving his hand inside and pulling a hand full of wires free. To an onlooker he made it seem as though he was being destructive, but in truth he was actually being quite meticulous and careful not to disengage anything that might keep him from functioning.

The door buzzed loudly and opened. Two armed guards stood on either side of the opening. A tall man with a slim build and neatly groomed black hair entered the room. He had a fairly smug look on his face and an ominous looking instrument in his hand.

Lore continued to keep up his act, feigning distress as he hunched over his exposed middle; wires hanging free and coolant everywhere. He kept his sights on the man and his tool, but didn’t give anything away yet.

“You never cease to amaze, Lore,” said the man as he took a step closer.

The android looked up at him then with noticeable confusion. He’d never seen this man before and he was concerned that Mr. Fender was standing quietly by the door instead of taking the lead.

“You’re not a guard are you?” Lore questioned as he tried not think about what this new unsettling presence might mean.

“No, I’m not. I must say that you’ve been much more fascinating to observe these past couple of weeks than you have in all of the two years that you’ve been here,” said the mystery man with a hint of excitement. 

Lore didn’t care for his tone and was already starting to rethink his plan. “I don’t understand. If you’re not a guard...who are you?”

“My name is Maddox. Let’s just say that you’ve been a little pet project of mine,” he said with importance as he looked down his nose at the android. “I had been observing you remotely, but then this ‘wife’ showed up out of blue and I just had a feeling something interesting would come of it. Looks like my hunch was right.”

The man’s dark eyes had a mischievous sparkle and Lore knew exactly who he was as soon as he’d spoken his name; Dr. Bruce Maddox of the Daystrom Institute. Data had told him about the weasel when they were bonding over their mutual distain for humanity; back when his dear brother was under his insane influence. Lore decided that he would be damned and disassembled if he let that man come any closer without defending himself. 

“Can you help me? Can you fix me so that she’ll love me again?” Lore begged pathetically as he held his arm around his exposed stomach area. 

“I can fix you alright. I can even do one better and re-program you. You don’t need all those irrational and illogical impulses. I’ll make you better so that you function in a much more acceptable, civilized fashion.”

“You mean like Data?” the android asked in the same sad tone.

“Exactly,” smirked Maddox.

Lore discretely reached into his abdomen again and took hold of one his power couplings.

“This’ll hurt,” Lore said weakly.

“Don’t you mean to ask, ‘will this hurt’?” Maddox countered with annoyance.

“No, you fucker,” the android spat as he abruptly reached out and grabbed Maddox by the front of his shirt so that he could connect the man’s body with the coupling; effectively jolting him with electric current and inflicting second degree burns to his skin under his uniform. 

Maddox screamed in pain.

“See what I mean?” Lore said sardonically as he dropped the man to the floor and snatched the device from his hand. He pocketed it for later in case it proved useful.

The two guards stood paralyzed in shock for a moment. By the time they reacted Lore was already on them. He easily knocked the phaser in Fender’s hand so that it fired on the second guard, stunning him into unconsciousness. Then the prisoner brutally ripped the weapon free and turned it back on its owner.

When Lore picked up the second phaser he dramatically pointed both at Maddox’s head. “What do you think? If I stun you with both phasers at once is the same as only using one, or do you think will it fuck up that arrogant brain of yours?” he asked with an unfeeling shrug of his shoulders.

“You won’t get away with this, Lore,” moaned Maddox through his agony.

“What I am, a comic book villain?” Lore retorted with offence.

Then, instead of firing, the android opted to violently knockout the scientist with the hilt of a phaser. Sometimes he liked having the physical satisfaction of getting his hands dirty.

Lore was sure that an alarm must have gone off when the first phaser fired. So he quickly closed the door so no one would think anything was amiss and began putting himself back together. Then he changed into one of the guard’s uniforms. He was more than happy to trade his maroon prison wear for the golden-green and black of the guards. He also made a point of pulling all three of their access i.d. cards and stole a comm badge for good measure.

This wasn’t the plan he’d worked out in his mind; it was so much better. Dr. Maddox just admitted to coming to Jaros II recently, which meant there was a very good chance that he had a transport waiting, or even better, his own craft.

Lore made a break for it when everything appeared to be quiet again. His biggest weakness was his appearance. There was no hiding the fact that he was golden in complexion and he knew he would stick out like a sore thumb. So he would need to be quick about getting out.

He made his way to one of the guard stations and hacked into the system. It wasn’t that hard for him with his quick dexterity and even quicker brain. He found the best candidate for his escape vessel and smiled to himself when he discovered that it was in fact Maddox’s ship. It was a Starfleet issue long range shuttle craft; which basically meant it had all the finer fixtures for longer journeys.

“Why escape a row boat when you can bail in a yacht?” Lore mused to himself as he palmed the good doctor’s i.d. card. 

He made his way to the closest transporter, which wasn’t easy since there were now guards and security everywhere. Once he made his way onto the shuttle he hacked in and found the launch codes and security details he would need to leave the compound. The final detail was rewriting the viewer to project Bruce Maddox’s face and voice when and if anyone tried to make visual confirmation of his identity.

“Oh Starfleet, why do you make these things so easy to hack that any child could do it? At least I’m sure my child could anyhow,” he said to himself with a chuckle.

He was only stopped once and he made some erroneous claim—as Maddox—that the prisoner known as Lore had tried to attack him and he was leaving to make his report to Starfleet Command in person about how the android should be destroyed. It seemed that the warden was used to Maddox acting like an arrogant asshole and he didn’t even batt an eye at his request for departure.

“That was too easy,” Lore told himself with a frown. He tried not to dwell on what the future would hold when the other metaphorical shoe dropped. For now he was content with the fact that he was free and more than that he hadn’t actually killed anyone in the process of a making his escape. 

“Lee will be happy,” he thought to himself. 

He hadn’t really thought about what he would do now that he clear of the penal colony. He knew he wanted his daughter back, but persuading Wesley to join him in his run from the law was a whole other story. He was fairly certain that she would never go with him, which meant he was about to add kidnapping to his list of crimes.

.....


	28. Awkward Conversations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically the calm before the storm.

Wesley wanted to be excited when she heard the news about Juliana coming for a visit, but she was too worried about how the woman would feel about all the lies she’d told her over the years they’d spent together. It was the same when Data told her that he was taking Lore’s plight more seriously. It was what she wanted, but so much always went wrong for her that she wasn’t ready to get her hopes up just yet.

The ensign, who hadn’t been an ensign for almost three years sat with her head in her best friend’s lap. She smiled as she noted how much smaller Robin’s lap was getting as her belly got bigger.

“So any words of wisdom as I enter my last trimester?” Robin wondered as she stroked the other woman’s dark locks, her own shoulder-length hair falling in her face as she looked down. “I still can’t believe that you stepped out one night came home again with a toddler.”

“You and me both,” Wesley sighed. “Sorry Robin. I really don’t have any advice. I didn’t even know I was pregnant until I was almost five months along and then I went into premature labour about six weeks later.”

“Are you serious?” she shot back. She knew her friend was having a streak of bad luck, but that was just unbelievable. “And Zoe lived?”

“Thanks to Dr. Soong. I was the one who almost died...big surprise,” Wesley huffed.

“Gosh, Crusher you need a minder. Like you seriously can’t be trusted to your own devices,” Robin said dramatically.

“I know. What can I say?” she offered with a shrug of one shoulder.

“Okay, well I want to tell you something that might distract you from your own misery,” her friend said with secretive undertones.

Wesley suddenly sat up and looked at her friend expectantly. “What?”

“We found out this morning...we’re having a boy,” Robin gushed with glee.

“Aw, Robin. That’s so amazing! You and Geordi must be so happy!” Wesley gushed in return. “I mean, not that it’s specifically a boy, but now that you know the sex you can start thinking of names,” she added as though to clarify.

“Geordi wants to name him ‘Jayden’,” Robin confided with a grin. “Apparently Data got stranded with amnesia this one time and that’s what the primitive colonists called him.”

“And you’re alright with Geordi basically naming your kid after his best friend?”

“Of course. I think it’s sweet,” she replied. “You don’t like it?”

Wesley thought about it for a moment and shrugged again. “What do I know. Lore named our daughter.”

“Seriously?” Robin said a little louder than necessary. “Dear lord I feel like I need a shot of Valium every time I’m reminded that that goon was the father of your child.”

“Robin,” Wesley said with offence. “He was more like Data than the monster you’re thinking of, so relax okay.”

“How are things going by the way? Have you two worked things out yet?” she inquired, by-passing her friend’s comment about Lore.

“Not yet,” Wesley lamented as she lay her head back down. “There’s this part of me that wants to hold out hope that Lore can be saved; but then I remember how much my short time with Data meant to me. I’m so confused.”

“This is dumb. You’re dumb,” Robin told her without hesitation.

“Oh is that right?”

“Yep. Data loves you and love him and he won’t turn all crazy and evil. Case and point,” the pregnant woman stated with importance.

“Wow, you know what’s actually dumb...what you just said,” Wesley rebutted with a laugh.

Just then Geordi arrived back at his quarters with Zoe on his hip.

“Puppies!” exclaimed Zoe excitedly as she waved at her mother.

“Oh no, what puppies?” Wesley groaned as she sat herself up again.

“Zoe and I went to see the new litter of puppies; golden retrievers if you’re interested,” Geordi told the two women.

“No way, G. We’re already signed up for a human baby,” Robin retorted without missing a beat.

“Sorry Zoe, I don’t think Spot would like a puppy,” Wesley said with a frown. 

Zoe frowned to mirror her mother and held out her little chubby arms. Geordi passed the toddler back, but only after giving her a quick peck on the cheek.

“Looks like you two had fun,” Robin mused with delight at how paternal her partner was being.

“We did,” he laughed in reply. “We weren’t alone. Data said the same thing about Spot.”

“How is Data?” Wesley winced as she stopped her excited daughter from clapping her hands too closely to her face.

“He misses you. He says you haven’t been sleeping in your quarters,” he told her with concern for his friend. “Maybe you considering Spot’s feelings means you’re ready to go home?”

“Home,” Wesley said simply as she gave the girl a squeeze. 

“Home,” Zoe repeated as she looked up at her mother’s face.

“That’s cute, but slightly annoying,” Robin said without thinking, earning her a look from her partner.

“I think Data wants to reconcile,” Geordi continued. “I’ve never seen the guy so distraught over anything, or anyone before.”

“Would you forgive me?” Wesley asked Robin rhetorically.

“If you cheated on me for three years with someone else...hmm, where have I heard this scenario before? It sounds super familiar,” Robin said sarcastically. 

“Right, but you chose the other man,” Wesley shot back with annoyance at her friend’s refusal to take things seriously.

“I tell you what, if it were me and Robin messed around with Lore, I’d lose my freaking mind,” the Chief Engineer replied.

“Thanks Geordi, but I don’t know that that’s particularly helpful,” Robin informed him as she stood and kissed him for at least making an effort.

“No, Geordi’s right. I need to work this out with Data,” Wesley countered with conviction. “He deserves closure.”

“Closure?” the man said with obvious doubt. “Now, wait Wes I never meant that you should break up with him...I mean unless that’s what you want?”

“You don’t think that’s what he wants?” she asked suddenly unsure.

“No. He wants you to come home. He wants to reconcile,” he reminded her; he’d just told her as much and couldn’t understand why she wasn’t understanding his meaning.

“Oh, right.”

“So, Crusher you gonna finally admit that Data is worth fighting for, even if it’s your own selfish self that you’re fighting?” Robin rambled.

Wesley and Geordi looked at each other. 

“Do you ever understand her when she gets like this?” Geordi asked with a nervous chuckle.

“Not usually. Sometimes you just have to smile and nod,” Wesley replied quite seriously.

“Mean, you’re both just picking on me now!” Robin pouted as she hid her face in her lover’s shoulder.

“We pick because we love,” Geordi told her with affection.

......

Wesley put aside her doubts and returned to her quarters to wait for Data. She sat on the floor with her daughter on a play mat. She was contemplating the idea of moving into her own living space so that Data could have more freedom from her. She was still feeling like a burden he never asked for and despite her conversation with Geordi, she was concerned about damaging their relationship further.

Zoe was lining up some building blocks when the chime went on the door. Wesley gave permission for the guest to enter and was surprised to see it was Grady.

“Data’s not here right now,” she told him from her seat on the floor.

The young man smiled awkwardly as he looked down at her with the little girl.

“I’m actually here to speak to you, if that’s okay?” he said as he took a step closer.

“Oh, sure,” she conceded. “Have a seat if you like.”

Grady considered her offer and sat down on the floor next to her daughter.

“You don’t have to sit on the floor, Grady,” she said with a laugh. “You can sit in a chair.”

“I think the floor’s just fine,” he replied with a grin. “And who is this lovely little one?”

“Zoe,” said Zoe as she offered her guest a toy block.

“Zoe? Well hello and thank you for the gift. My name’s Grady,” he said politely as he took the block. 

Wesley couldn’t help but giggle at the tall elegant man as he crouched down to interact with her small daughter.

“I think she’ll probably want that toy back sooner or later,” Wesley told him playfully.

“Oh of course. I wasn’t actually going to keep it,” he said with another grin. “So are you watching her for a friend?”

“Data didn’t tell you?”

“No...tell me what?” he wondered as he handed the block back to Zoe’s expectant hands.

“Zoe’s my daughter,” she confessed. Although it was a fact she was proud of normally, it still felt strange telling people of her peculiar circumstances.

“Huh, he never said anything. Have you always known about her?” Grady asked a little distractedly as he affectionately smoothed the girl’s hair at the back of her head. “I mean, you must have been at the academy when she was born.”

“Yeah. I’ve always known. It’s complicated.”

“Is her mother still around, or I guess you get to me her mother now?” he said with a bit of a wink to her gender swap.

“Let’s just say that I’m her only parent right now,” Wesley said with a secretive air.

“Right. So that must be hard for you; taking on so much responsibility at such a young age?”

The young woman thought about his comment for a moment and decided that from the outside she would still appear to be twenty-two and inexperienced as a parent.

“It’s been an adjustment,” she said in agreement. It honestly had been, what with jumping forwards in time and returning to a life she never thought she’d see again.

“Well I’m sure Data’s more than happy to help. This must be what he meant by things that came up that he had to deal with,” Grady noted as he recalled Data wanting to reconnect after he took care of a few things.

“Have you had a chance to talk to him much since that night?” she wondered with concern.

“No, not really.” The disappointment was very clear in his tone. “Sometimes I just let my emotions get carried away and I forget to breath, you know?”

“Yeah, I do,” she conceded as she thought about giving into Lore that first time.

“That reminds me...I came here to apologize to you. I know I was out of line and I’m really sorry I encouraged Data to act on his impulses,” he said regretfully. “Not that I influenced him, or anything,” he added to be sure she knew he was innocent of using his knack.

“I know. The truth is that you’re special to Data and I don’t think he’s really had time to process what that means just yet.”

“What do you think it means?” Grady found himself daring to ask.

“Honestly, I think Data’s still in love with you. Maybe even more so now that his emotions are more apparent and he understands them a little better,” she explained sincerely. “I don’t judge him for it. I think it’s rather sweet.”

“You do?” he rebutted unsure of her meaning. “A couple of days ago you were ready to take my head off.”

“Let’s just say that a lot has happened in that time and my perspective has shifted,” she said ominously.

“Huh, okay. So, you don’t mind if we try to work things out?”

“I would really like it if you did,” she clarified with a warm smile.

“Gady play,” Zoe said as she tried to hand the young man another block.

“Did she just almost use my name?” he asked with obvious surprise.

“She has a gift with names, although she doesn’t always pronounce them quite right. We’re still working on her ‘r’s’.”

Grady took the new block and turned his attention to helping the toddler build her little tower that she’d started. Wesley couldn’t help but feel better about things as she watched them play.

.....


	29. Forgiveness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Data is having trouble making up his mind.

Data decided it would be best to have a conversation with Deanna Troi. He already had Geordi’s permission to revisit his brother’s crimes and Captain Picard didn’t protest much. He knew the importance of family and was under the belief that Lore was not completely in his right mind when he began his quest for the destruction of humanity. 

That left Deanna. Data felt as though he should discuss things with her before proceeding any further since she was also greatly effected by the time she’d been taken hostage by the two androids.

“Come in, Data,” she said as she invited him into her office. 

“Deanna, while I am certain that you are aware of the developments with Wesley and her daughter there is something else I would like to discuss with you,” the android began as he sat opposite his friend and colleague.

“Is it Grady?” she asked with a knowing air.

Data shook his head as he folded his hands in his lap. “I am not ready to discuss Grady at this time,” he replied.

“If not now then when?” she wondered with concern. “I understand that Wesley is your priority, but Grady can’t wait forever and deserves your attention just as much as she does.”

“I am aware of this fact, however things are becoming more complex every day,” he told her with a frown.

“What do you mean?”

“I have contacted Juliana Tainer on Wesley’s behalf. They were like family when she was in the past,” Data began to explain. “Then there is Zoe and her distress, which brings me to why I came here to speak with you. The girl misses her father and I plan to appeal his case.”

“Lore? You came here to discuss Lore?” Deanna said with alarm. “Data, why after all of this time do you want to help him?”

“Because now I understand what he lost. He kept his family a secret and concealed his burden from me; from everyone,” he continued. “He was accused of having something do to with their disappearances and I am not proud to say that I was one of his accusers.”

“You mean when Wesley and Zoe came to be here on the Enterprise?” she asked to clarify. She frowned to herself, knowing that Lore had revealed the loss of his wife to her in the past. She hadn’t realized that Data was still in the dark.

“Precisely. Lore never shared the fact that Wesley was a time traveller with his parents, nor with myself to my knowledge. So when she went missing we thought he may have brought them to harm,” he concluded.

“So you believe that this new information justifies his actions?” Deanna shot back unconvinced.

“How can you not?”

“Fine. Let’s give Lore the benefit of the doubt. Let’s just say that his grief pushed him to steal a shuttle and leave the Enterprise without a proper explanation to you, his own brother. Then when you see him again—by mere happenstance of your creator recalling him by accident—he locks you away and steals your emotion chip,” she rambled as she recounted known events from Lore’s past. “Let’s not forget how he physically harmed your ailing, elderly father; injuries that he never recover from.”

“At this time he would have had the chip,” Data reminded her.

“So your argument is that he’s a sum of his technology and he malfunctioned when he let his creator put a chip in his head that was never meant to be his?”

“That is correct. If you cannot hold me responsible for my actions under the influence of that chip through my brother’s efforts, how can you hold him accountable?”

“It wasn’t just that chip, Data. Lore disabled your ethical program and brainwashed you to his cause. These are things that he did of his own volition,” the empath added with uncharacteristic distain.

“I know that you suffered along with Geordi due to your empathic abilities and your refusal to allow him to suffer alone. However, I must ask what other personal trauma you suffered other than the constant fear you endured while waiting to know if Geordi would survive his torment?”

Deanna couldn’t believe her ears. She couldn’t understand how he could be so blunt and unfeeling. “Wasn’t that enough? Wasn’t watching you tear apart your closest, dearest friend torment enough?”

“I am sorry. I did not mean to insinuate that it was not a terrible thing. It was quite terrible and I live with the memories of what I did to Geordi everyday,” he said, his words full of sorrow.

“Lore did approach me once, but I believe you were there,” she added as she looked away from him.

“Yes, he looked quite perturbed by the way you stood up to him. I wonder now if you affected him not just for embarrassing him in front of me, but because your indignation reminded him of Wesley.”

“I still don’t understand how she could do what she did, knowing what she knew about him,” Deanna told him with an unusual vulnerability.

“Lore was not the same person on Omicron Theta.”

“Then she needs to understand that the man she loved is gone and trying to free the monster he’s become won’t bring him back.”

Data regarded his friend for a moment. He was confused by her inability to see things from a new perspective. It wasn’t like her to be so close-minded and undiplomatic when it came to giving people a second chance and help them through their troubled pasts. 

“Deanna, are you certain that Lore did not do anything else to cause you to be so against reevaluating his actions and what drove him to his evil deeds?” he asked as delicately as possible.

“What about the colony? Omicron Theta was destroyed because of him,” she said quietly.

“It appears that this is not the case. Dr. Tainer clarified that he had nothing to do with it,” he explained.

“So Lore never committed genocide and he never intentionally murdered your father?”

“That is correct. As far as I know he never willingly took a life before that chip made him insane and gave him a god complex. Even then the only lives he took were those of misguided Borg drones that chose to follow him.”

“And the officer that was killed in our landing party,” she reminded him with a pursed expression.

“I suppose, however it was a drone who fired on him,” Data countered.

“If you weren’t so moved by Wesley’s plea for help, would you even want to aid Lore?”

“Perhaps I would not, however I believe I would have discovered these discrepancies at some point and been remiss in my judgement.”

Deanna sighed heavily and rubbed her temples as though she had a headache. Data believed he had bothered her long enough and would have to give her time to accept that he was going to help his brother whether she liked it, or not.

“There was a moment,” she said quietly as she looked at him again. “The captain was resting and Geordi was unconscious. Lore looked as though he was going to try something with me again. It was just him, no guard this time,” she explained with a pained expression. “The strange thing was that he took by the my arm, but instead of forcing me to go with him he just stared at his hand. When he looked back into my eyes he said something so unexpected that I thought I had imagined it.”

“What was it?” Data pressed memorized by her story.

“He told me he had no idea what he was doing. He only ever wanted your love and admiration, but was afraid that he’d gone too far. He confessed that he’d always had a problem with acting out when faced with grief. I could only speculate at the time that he’d meant the loss of his creator. However, knowing what we now know, it is possible that he meant the loss of his wife and child as well.”

“Then he showed you remorse in the midst of his tyranny...and you kept this fact to yourself?” It was Data’s turn to be offended. “How could you not have said something? How could you let him go to prison and not receive the help that he so clearly needed?”

“How could you? You’re his brother,” she countered sharply.

“I refused to allow him to be deactivated because I am his brother. I did not hide the fact that he made a plea for help, to one of his victims no less,” he told her with obvious frustration. “You are a professional healer.”

“He was a murderous, cruel, manipulative monster,” she cried shrilly in her own defence. “He could have been lying to me to get me to let him do whatever he wanted from me. I was protecting myself!”

The android gave his friend a piteous look. He knew that she was right and didn’t want to cause her anymore pain. He slowly moved from where he sat across from her to sit beside her. He gave her some warning and then put an arm around her, not wanting to upset her further. Deanna leaned into him for support and let herself cry a little; from fear at reliving the painful memories and from shame for concealing such an important piece of information for so long.

“I’m sorry, Data, but I can’t help you in this senseless crusade to help that villain,” she muttered. 

“I understand. I will not ask you to, but know that I will still continue in my efforts,” he said quietly.

“I know and that’s your prerogative,” she said sadly as she pulled back just enough to meet his gaze. “But if he gave into his darker impulses once he could do it again and you might not be there to stop him, regardless of his state of grief, or functionality.”

“I know. That is why I have no illusions of freeing him completely. I only wish him to receive the care that he needs,” he explained.

“Then you’re a better person than I am,” she said ruefully.

“I highly doubt that,” he informed her with a sad sort of smile.

......

Data returned to his quarters to reassess his plans about his brother. He was deep in thought when he came through the door to find Wesley and Grady playing with Zoe on the floor. It seemed that Spot had joined them as well and had no qualms about sharing her affection with any of them.

“What is going on?” Data said as he took in the scene.

“Grady stopped by to see you.” Wesley was first to reply.

“Dada play,” Zoe requested as she very gently pet the android’s cat.

“Dada?” Grady asked as he looked up at Data.

“It is what she calls me...or rather how she pronounces my name,” he responded a little too sharply. There was something about seeing Grady interact with Wesley and Zoe that hit a nerve.

Wesley quickly stood as she noted the stress in his features. She couldn’t quite recall if she’d ever seen Data wear such an expression before, but knew it all too well from Lore.

“Hey, Data, it’s okay. Stop worrying about people thinking that Zoe’s your daughter. By all rights she sort of is,” Wesley said calmly as she tried to ease the tension he was experiencing.

“But she is not. I did not know her until several days ago,” he said with some distress.

Wesley hugged him so she could get closer to his ear. “Yes you did and she knew you...she loves you very much,” she whispered in an attempt to soothe him.

Data softened a little and as she pulled away from him, he pulled her back again and kissed her. He was so emotional that he’d forgotten that Grady was in room watching them.

The young man stood and straightened his appearance. “Bye Zoe,” he said to the only person still paying him any attention. “Maybe we can play again sometime.”

Data looked pained as heard the young man’s voice. When he tried to make eye contact Grady understandably looked away.

Wesley frowned at the young man’s retreat. She picked up Spot, knowing that she might dart for the door when it opened. 

Data didn’t hesitate and caught Grady’s his wrist to keep him from leaving so abruptly. “I am sorry,” he said with obvious emotional inflection. “I never meant to hurt you.”

Grady easily removed himself from the android’s grasp as he stepped back to open the door. “It’s fine. Now I know how you really feel,” he said as he tried to keep the hurt from his voice. “Wesley’s given you the opportunity to have a family and I’m still the messed up kid who needs to get back to Earth so that I can continue my therapy.”

“I really wish things could be different,” Data told him sadly.

“No you don’t,” Grady said just as sadly. “If you really wanted things to be different you would have kissed me just now and not her.”

The android watched as the young man left and the door closed again. 

Zoe fussed and toddled over to cling to her mother’s leg. Wesley looked down at her before trading the cat in her arms for her daughter. She carried Zoe into the bedroom and deposited her in the crib that Data had brought in for her. 

When Zoe settled with her plush bear, Wesley came back out into the main living area to find Data still standing by the door. He hadn’t moved in at least ten minutes.

The woman encircled her arms around his neck and brought his head down to rest on her shoulder. It was something he very rarely did, since she was always the one in need of comfort in their relationship.

She was about to say something, anything to try and make him feel better about his decision when she felt him convulse with saddest sob she’d ever heard.

“Data,” she whispered as her heart broke for him. “Do you want him to come back?”

The android moved so that he could look her in the eye. He slowly shook his head. 

“I want you back, Wesley,” he said with a choked sob. 

The woman searched his face unsure if it was really her that he wanted, or if Grady was right and Data was reacting to her promise of a family and not necessarily being honest with himself about who he wanted to be with.

“Please tell me you love me,” Data pleaded.

“I love you,” she confessed with only a hint of hesitation. She’d forgotten about how insecure he could be.

“Tell me you will never leave again,” he said softly as he began to recover.

“I’ll never leave you again,” she told him reluctantly, knowing she could never actually be held to such a promise. 

“Please forgive my arrogance,” he whispered as he pressed his forehead to hers.

“Only if you forgive me for hurting you,” she said unsure that he would, or could.

“I must accept your affair since it has brought Zoe into your life and she is not at all like her father,” he surmised.

Wesley tried to feel good about what he was saying, but it just didn’t quite sit right. However, she was tired of fighting her fate and she felt as though maybe it was time to accept that she was meant to be with Data. After all, he was sane, reliable and good—what more could she ask for?

“Then I can forgive you stepping out with Grady, although it was barely anything in comparison,” she offered in response. 

“I forgive you as well,” he said as he cupped her face in both hands.

“And I will always believe you when you tell me you’re sorry,” she added as she leaned into him.

Data kissed her deeply and she was surprised to find that she didn’t pull away from him this time. She had never seen him so sad unless it was because her life had been threatened. She hated that she’d done that to him; that she had caused him such pain.

“Do you think Grady will be alright?” She heard herself ask as they parted.

“I do not know. Perhaps I should go and make sure he is not too upset,” he said with concern. “As long as you do not mind.”

Wesley didn’t mind. She was waiting to see how long it was going to take him to revisit his connection to the young man. Turned out that it wasn’t long at all.

“Data, I hate to admit it, but I do like him and he was really looking forward to spending more time with you. You should go and check on him,” she told him lovingly. “I’ll be here when you get back.”

“That is all I ever wanted,” he sighed, contented by her words.

They kissed again and she found it harder and harder to let him go. She couldn’t get over how much he reminded her of Lore, but she would never admit such a thing out loud.

......

Data went off to find the young man who’d so willingly put his life on hold in hopes of becoming closer with him.

Grady was in his guest quarters and answered straight away when the chime went.

“Data, there’s nothing left to say. I took a chance and stayed so that you could have more time to think things overs. But you’ve made your choice,” he said with resignation.

“I cannot help but have concern for your wellbeing as well,” the android explained. “I cannot abide leaving you in distress.”

“Well that’s too bad,” Grady rebutted. “The person who does the dumping doesn’t get to comfort the person they dumped.”

“Grady, please,” he said weakly as he couldn’t help but want to make amends.

“You need to leave. I don’t think I ever want to see you again. I can’t stand knowing that there will never be a chance for us to be together now. Not while you’re with Wesley.”

Data turned to go, but he faltered as though his feet wouldn’t obey him. In fact, he stood there looking down at his boots for a solid minute.

“Are you alright? Do I need to get Geordi?” the young man asked with more consideration in his tone than he’d had before.

When Data remained silent, Grady came up behind him and slowly put his arms around the android. Data leaned back into him and turned his head to meet the young man’s gaze.

“What is wrong with me? How can I want both of you this much?” he whispered as though what he was saying was some terrible secret; maybe it was.

“Wanting isn’t the problem, it’s the consequences of acting,” Grady said sadly.

The android moved so that they were now facing one another. Then he pulled the young man into his arms. 

Grady was just as bad as Data. He let himself give into temptation just moments after declaring he would never again do such a thing. They kissed then, both knowing it was a mistake. Data always felt like everything with Grady was a mistake, though he could never figure out why.

“Stay,” the elegant blond muttered between kisses.

Data hesitated and thought about how Wesley had encouraged him to explore his feelings, although that was before they’d fully reconciled.

“What will happen if I stay?” Data asked with longing.

“I think you already the know the answer to that,” Grady hummed with a mischievous grin.

“And what if I still choose Wesley tomorrow?” the android inquired, not wanting to cause his paramour any further injury.

“I guess I better make sure that you don’t,” he answered before resuming his full physical onslaught on the synthetic man.

.......


	30. Doppelgänger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Enterprise encounters an asteroid field and things get interesting.

The next morning Wesley awoke to the sounds of Zoe crying. It was still something that she almost never did. She rolled over to find Data absent, then she remembered that he hadn’t returned the night before. So much for him choosing her over Grady.

When Zoe cried out again the girl’s mother got out of bed to comfort her. Wesley was surprised to find Spot pressed against the little one in an attempt to provide her own solace.

That was when the ship shook. 

“What the heck?” Wesley whispered to no one. All those years on solid ground, not just on Omicron Theta, but while she was at the academy, made her extra nervous when her whole world jolted so completely.

“Computer, what’s happening? Are we under attack?” she asked as she picked up Zoe in her arms.

“Negative. The Enterprise has entered an asteroid field in order to retrieve a probe,” the computer chirped in reply.

“I guess that’s not so scary, huh?” she said to her daughter.

As Wesley changed and dressed her daughter for the day, under Spot’s watchful eye, she continued to grow in her concern as the ship rumbled time and time again.

“Geez, who’s driving this thing?” she mumbled to herself in annoyance, feeling that she could have done a much better job.

Then the computer sent out a warning about their shields being critically low and the lights switched to yellow alert.

“What the hell? Are Uncle Geordi and Uncle Data on vacation today, or what?” she grumbled at Zoe, who continued to look upset.

Then, just as she was ready to march down to Engineering herself to get some answers, the warnings stoped and the lights reverted to regular daytime settings.

“Sorry about the bumpy ride,” came Comdr Riker’s reassuring voice to all hands. “We’re clear now. Everyone can return to your routine duties.”

“That was Will Riker,” Wesley told her little girl. “He’s a big a teddy bear.”

Zoe still looked worried, so Wesley thought that she would take her for a walk. She tried feeding her first, but she refused to cooperate, which was understandable.

Wesley had the toddler by the hand as she walked slowly down the corridor. She really was starting to get too big and heavy for her to carry around all the time. Besides, she needed to start walking more on her own.

When they went as far as Zoe could manage they headed back to their quarters. Wesley was a little startled to find Data standing outside the door tapping the keypad.

“It’s open, Data,” she called as they began to approach him.

The android paused before turning his attention to her. When their eyes met she could have sworn that he looked surprised to see her.

“Open? You mean?” he began to say with some hesitation.

“I mean we’ve only been gone for like ten minutes and I left it open,” she said as she looked him up and down. “Are you alright? Did that asteroid field jostle you around too much?”

He gave her another strange look as he watched her walk past him and take Zoe inside. He followed them in and looked around the place as though he was looking for something. Then Wesley saw the staining on his sleeve.

“Are you hurt?” she asked as she sat her daughter on her play-mat and rushed to his side.

Data looked down at his arm and frowned. “I am fine,” he said quietly as he watched her face again. She was close to him he could feel her warm breath on his synthetic skin and it made him feel things he didn’t want to feel.

“You don’t look fine,” she said with concern as she pulled up his sleeve to get a better look at his arm. She was suddenly unsure when it looked to be intact. Then she realized something else. His uniform was slightly different; slightly greener than usual.

“Data, what’s going on?”

“I...I...” His words failed as he lost himself in her dark eyes.

“I know you were with Grady last night,” she said quietly as though not to let her daughter overhear them. “I understand if you want to be with him and not me. I’ve asked you for so much and I want you to know that it’s alright for you to want something for yourself.”

Data furrowed his brow and shook his head slowly. “No. I want you, Wesley,” he said almost breathlessly as he closed the distance between them and passionately kissed her. 

The woman was ashamed to admit that she felt his mouth burn all the way down into her core. There was something so primal and wanton in his desire that made her go weak at the knees.

“I don’t know if I’m ready,” she whispered when he stopped to let her catch her breath.

“Ready?” he repeated just as softly.

“To be with you again...since I was away,” she said vaguely, though the android seemed to know exactly what she meant.

“You mean because we have not yet been intimate since your return,” he reiterated to show he understood.

“Yeah,” she sighed.

Data smirked before recapturing her mouth and pressing his body to hers. She could feel his excitement press against her side as he began leading her to the bedroom. But then Zoe whimpered and drew their attention back to reality.

They both looked over at the little girl on the floor and Data was first to act. He went over and scooped her up.

“She hasn’t eaten yet. She’s probably hungry,” Wesley said as she put a hand to back of her head.

“What shall I feed her? Would she prefer something organic, or synthetic?” he asked plainly as he let the little one cuddle into him.

“Zoe what do you need?” she asked her daughter with a frown. 

“Papa,” she whined as she turned and clung even more tightly to her uncle.

“She misses her father,” Data said with a touch of concern as he gently rocked her. Wesley thought he was taking the child’s plea for her father rather well.

“I don’t understand. She’s been pretty upbeat until now. I hope she isn’t getting sick,” Wesley commented as she put wrist to the girl’s forehead, but didn’t think she had a temperature.

“I have an idea,” the android said smartly. He walked over to the replicator and requested a particular concoction that they’d never tried before, though it did sound suspiciously like something Dr. Soong would have come up with.

The replicator produced the liquid in a sippy cup and Data handed it to Zoe. Together they sat on the sofa. The android kissed his hybrid niece and soothed her with soft words as she looked up at him and drank her fill.

“How did you do that?” Wesley wondered as she watched them. A shiver went up her spine, he reminded her so much of the girl’s father. When the android began rubbing circles on the little one’s back she was all but certain that she already knew the answer to her question. Even if it made no sense, she couldn’t deny how he’d kissed her.

The young mother came over to sit next to the android. She ran a hand up his arm to his shoulder. She let it rest there until he looked over at her and then she tucked her hand behind the back of his head to draw him into another kiss.

She didn’t speak when they parted. She simply let him put his arm around her so that she could rest her head on his shoulder while he continued to tend to her daughter; their daughter.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy in my whole damn life,” ‘Data’ whispered as though saying anything too loudly would break the spell.

“Just tell me no one died,” Wesley requested just as quietly.

“No one died. I knew you’d ask that,” Lore replied with a grin.

“I thought it was weird when I tried to reach you again and everyone was very quick to deny my requests.”

“Requests, as in plural? What’s up?” he said suddenly interested.

“What’s up is that I missed you, you dumb piece of technology,” she said a little meaner than necessary. “How is it that you’re wandering around the ship and the sensors didn’t detect you?”

“It’s some tech I picked up years ago. Makes thieving and pillaging easier when no one knows you’re there,” he explained.

“You must have beamed on board when shields were down. You didn’t make that probe wander into the asteroid field, did you?”

“Just a happy accident.”

“It’s nice that you get the happy accidents. I just seem to get the unhappy ones,” she lamented.

His face looked pained and he had to kiss her again. Then he tilted his head and smirked. “So...what is a Grady?” Lore asked with one arched brow. 

Wesley giggled at him. “He’s this very attractive, very young, half Selelvian man,” she said suggestively.

“And that’s who pulled my brother’s attention from you?” he asked uncertain how such a thing could happen.

“Yep,” she confirmed plainly as she watched her daughter finally relax.

“So my brother likes men?” he mused mostly to himself.

“It would seem he likes to be needed regardless of gender,” she told him.

“What happened just before and your need to be intimate? Did you still think I was him?” he inquired sharply.

“Data doesn’t kiss me like that,” she said as she looked up at him again with her big doe eyes.

“So you’re telling me you knew?” Lore asked unsure that she had.

“It was weird that you couldn’t get into your own quarters, yeah,” she told him, although she hadn’t actually caught on quite that quickly. “I only knew for sure because of how you were with Zoe. Data’s been getting to know her, but you seemed to be quite connected already. Good job fooling me, though.”

“Are you gonna turn me in?” he wondered as he took the cup back from his daughter and rubbed her back some more.

“I can’t believe your sitting here in my living quarters and the first thing you do is kiss me and take care of Zoe,” she said with a nervous laugh. “I would have expected a lot of violence, but you’ve been nothing but calm and patient.”

“I have to confess that I had a moment when I realized that you were living in sin with my brother that I wanted rip your beautiful head clear off your deceitful shoulders,” he informed her in all seriousness. “But then I took a breath and came back to my senses. It wouldn’t be good for Zoe to murder you right in front of her. Plus your confession of not jumping right back into bed with Data helped.”

“Lore...” 

Hearing her say his name made him want her again. He stood and walked Zoe into bedroom; the girl’s mother following and watching his every move. Zoe didn’t fuss when he put her back into her crib with her toys. Then he closed the door and took Wesley in his arms again.

He moved them over to the workstation so he could prop her up on the desk. As he kissed her again she eagerly wrapped her legs around his waist. 

“This is really bad,” she muttered into his mouth.

“I know it’s been a while for me, but it can’t be that bad,” he muttered back in his own defence.

“No, Lore,” she shot back as she pulled her face out of his reach. “You’ve escaped from a penal colony and at some point they’ll come here looking for you. It’s kind of obvious that this is where you’d come first,” she explained with exasperation. 

“Then we’d better get on with it so we get out of here,” he said playfully as he quickly dropped his uniform pants to floor and stepped out of them.

“Can you be serious please?” she demanded as he started helping her with her own pants.

“Make love first, serious consequences second,” he told her firmly.

“Lore,” she huffed again as she swatted his hands away before he could make much progress on her clothing.

“Look, it’s been a couple of weeks for you; it’s been a few decades for me, Lee,” he reminded her.

“There was that one time,” she began to say, but he cut her off.

“Nope, we’re not counting that. Got it. It didn’t happen,” he told her adamantly.

“Excuse me, but I was there. It happened. Besides you can’t expect me to believe that there was no one else?” she pressed.

Lore looked away for a moment. To his mind there would never be anyone else who could compared to her, but he was no saint.

“There might have one, or two others...Plus I almost did something to Troi,” he confessed with obvious shame. “But I think my morality clause kicked back in because despite my messed up state of mind I felt sick every damn time she looked at me.”

“Yeah, she’s really good at making anyone feel guilty,” Wesley commented without thinking. Then she felt awful. “Not that I think you had any right to force yourself on her...or anyone.”

“What about you?” he said with a smirk. “Right now?”

“I must be insane, I’m standing here arguing with a half naked criminal about when it’s appropriate to get forceful. Here’s your answer; NEVER!”

Zoe starting crying again in the other room. Lore shot her a disparaging look and pulled his pants back on. Then he went into the bedroom to check on their daughter. It was a good thing he did because neither one of them had thought to lock the door and Robin came in directly after Lore was out of sight.

“Oh, good, Wes you’re here. Can you please go down to Engineering and help out? I’m not feeling so hot after all that ruckus from the asteroid field, but Geordi really needs more bodies to help with repairs,” Robin ranted with importance.

“I haven’t been cleared for duty yet, Robin, and besides I have Zoe to look after,” Wesley replied quite loudly in the hopes that Lore would hear her.

“Geordi knows you’re capable,” the other woman said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “I can watch Zoe, of course.”

“That’s so kind of you to offer,” she began to say in attempt to discourage her from proceeding any further. “But Zoe isn’t feeling very well either.”

As if on cue, Zoe let out another whimper and called for her mother. 

“Geez, Crusher I know tough love is a thing, but if she’s not feeling well I think you need to go attend to your kid,” Robin said with more than a little judgement in her tone.

Just then ‘Data’ came out of the bedroom with Zoe in his arms and handed the girl to her mother. He was now wearing a fresh uniform in the correct colour.

“She was asking for you,” he said calmly to Wesley as gave Robin an expectant look. “Robin, is everything alright?”

It bothered Wesley a little that he was now so good at pretending to be Data, when years ago he’d been so bad at it.

The pregnant woman narrowed her eyes at the android. “Sure, Data, but I thought you were overseeing the repairs on the forward nacelle?” 

“I only stopped in to check on Wesley and Zoe. I know that Zoe is not used to such possibly frightening episodes,” he explained without missing a beat. “However, if you are here to assist her, I will return to my duties.”

“Oh, right,” Robin commented as she watched her two friends kiss affectionately over the little girl’s head.

“I’ll see you later, Data,” Wesley said as she watched him go. She really had no clue where he was going and whether or not she would in fact see him again, but she suspected that she would.

“So, just sit with her and talk to her. She’s just eaten, but she may need changing soon,” the ensign instructed as passed her friend her daughter. Then she dipped into the bedroom to put on her uniform. “She likes classical music and jazz.”

“She likes jazz?” Robin questioned as she looked at the toddler. 

“Yes, her grandfather used to play it over the speakers in his lab from time to time,” she elaborated as she came back out in slightly snug uniform. The visual distracted her friend from the statement about Dr. Soong.

“Looks like someone got some curves since she last wore that uniform,” Robin said with a laugh.

“Be nice, Lefler. And to be frank, if Zoe keeps fussing maybe you could take her to Sickbay,” she added as she felt her daughter’s forehead for a second time.

“Will do; roger that,” Robin replied with a warm smile. “Don’t worry, I got this.”

.....


	31. Curiouser and Curiouser

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lore is still wandering around.

It was much later in the day and Wesley was finishing up some repairs to one of the bulkheads on deck seventeen. It was a bit of a relief that using Starfleet grade tools wasn’t that different from the collection of ones she’d been using over the past three years. She easily remembered what each one did and how to use it. 

As she was doing a final pass over a new patch of paneling, Data came up beside her. She gave him a side glance and hated that she couldn’t tell right away if he was actually Data, or if it was Lore being reckless again.

“Wesley, I believe we need to talk,” he said in hushed tones that she almost missed due to loud volume of the torch tool she was using.

She winced and turned to look at him again. “Right now?”

“I believe you are aware that I did not return to our quarters last night,” he said just as quietly with a prominent frown marring his golden features.

Wesley decided that this definitely Data. “You know, now’s not a great time, Data,” she told him between torch applications.

“I believe I have made a grave error in judgement,” he said as he continued on even after she asked him not to. “I was wrong to dismiss my bond with Grady so easily.”

“Data, darling,” she interjected slightly sarcastically. “Stop talking. I don’t want to hear anything you’re about to say.”

“You are being unfair,” he rebutted with some annoyance.

Wesley shook her head and huffed a sigh of frustration before giving her seam one last shot with the torch. “Data, I told you to go to Grady. I told you to find out what there was between the two of you. I told you not to dismiss him. And you know what? I don’t want to hear about how tortured you are, or how conflicted you feel—because I already told you to be with him.”

“Then you accept that I wish to continue our relationship; mine and Grady’s?”

The ensign crouched down to put her tools away in her kit and prayed that her pants didn’t split up the back as she did so. 

“Data, I love you. You are one of my dearest and oldest friends; but I beg of you to make up your damned highly sophisticated mind before you come to me about emotional conflicts, okay?”

Then Wesley closed her kit and started to walk away from him. Data, of course, was quick to follow.

“But what about us? And Zoe? She will need a father figure and someone like her to help guide her as she matures,” he rambled as though missing her point completely.

“You will always be her uncle,” she said casually with a shrug.

“Why are you being so despondent? I was expecting you to be argumentative at the very least,” Data told her with rising concern that she was holding back her true feelings.

She stopped and made eye contact to press her point again. “Data, I’m all too familiar with conflicting emotions. I know what it’s like to feel pulled in two different directions and want two very different people,” she said with sympathy as she held his gaze. “At the end of the day you have to choose and then you have to live with that decision.”

“You are not in love with me anymore,” he said with a tilt of his head. “Grady fell apart when I kissed you, but I have confessed to spending the night with him and you are being quite casual in your response.”

“I’m sorry, but I think that maybe you’re right,” she told him honestly. Then she had to deal with the fact that she was still ruining her life.

“Please do not waste your life waiting for my brother. I still cannot find anyone who will take his case. It is beginning to look as though I will have to appeal on his behalf and I do not know that Starfleet Command will be very pleased with the idea.”

“It’s fine,” she told him even though he could see by her face that it wasn’t. “Maybe Lore deserves the hand he’s been dealt.” Of course she knew that Lore had an ace up his sleeve and was already holding a full house.

“Juliana should be arriving tomorrow. Perhaps she will help you to find more perspective,” he said kindly as he touched her shoulder.

“Sure, Data,” she said a little tearfully. She knew she had no real reason to cry, but breaking up was hard even if you were ready to let the other person go.

“I think you should remain in our quarters until you can transfer to ones that will best suit your needs. Zoe seems to like Spot.”

“I think that Spot likes Zoe too,” she added as she leaned into him and began crying into his shoulder.

“I love you, Wesley,” he said sadly as he continued to hold her.

“I love you too,” she blubbered.

......

Robin did end up taking Zoe to Sickbay. The Lieutenant became worried when the little girl seemed to continue to fuss and cry.

“It’s rather odd,” Beverly began to say as she examined her small patient. “Wesley said that Zoe was a very happy, upbeat child.”

“I know. I just don’t understand why she would be so anxious,” said Robin as she supported the toddler on the bio bed. “At first I thought it was because her mom wasn’t getting along with Data, but they looked pretty happy together this morning.”

“Did they? That’s good. I’ve had the same concerns,” the doctor told her.

As the two women continued to talk, ‘Data’ walked into Sickbay. He looked as though he was on a mission and almost continued past them, but stopped when he noticed Zoe.

“Why is Zoe here? Is she unwell?” he asked with concern.

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Robin told him with concern of her own.

“Want Papa,” Zoe whined as she held out her little arms to her uncle.

“Aw, sweetheart, that’s your uncle,” Robin said sadly.

Data smiled despite the girl’s mistake in thinking he was his brother and picked her up in his arms. He could tell Doctor Crusher wanted to protest his actions since she wasn’t done with her exam, but she relaxed when the girl giggled as Data tossed her lightly in the air.

“She seems fine to me,” he said with an unguarded laugh.

“Maybe she’s just home sick,” Beverly added as she watched the android with interest. She knew he was much freer with his emotional expression these days, but she’d ever seen him so openly giddy before.

“You’d think she would get more and more used to being here as time went on,” said Robin with a shake of her head.

“It must have been the asteroid field. The shaking of the ship upset her and perhaps she is beginning to understand that she is not planet-side,” Data offered as a form of explanation.

“That could be true,” the doctor agreed as she continued to observe the android dote on the little girl. He was pulling faces and kissing her cheeks to make her laugh. “Boy, you’ve really taken to Zoe.”

“How could I not? She is a gift,” he said lovingly as he held her close for one last hug before handing her back to Robin.

“I think Geordi’s influence has rubbed off on you,” the younger woman said with affection.

“Geordi?” Data asked with mild confusion.

“Yeah, he’s so good with her and now you are too,” Robin clarified.

The android looked pained for the briefest of moments as he thought about what she said. He couldn’t help the twisting flux of guilt he felt as he considered Geordi being good with the little girl. Then it passed and he looked like his normal self again.

“Thank you for the compliment, although I believe it speaks more to the kind of man Geordi is than my ability to bond with Zoe,” he said kindly.

“Data why are here?” Beverly asked knowing that he had arrived without knowing Zoe was in Sickbay.

“I had a question for you, Doctor Crusher. It is a private matter,” he told her as he lowered his voice a little.

“I think I’ll take Zoe home, but I might call you again if I need to cheer her again,” Robin told them both as she gathered the girl up and began to leave.

“Take good care of her,” Data said as he watched them go.

“Oh I will.”

Once they were gone Data followed Beverly into her office. The doctor sat at her desk, but the android remained standing.

“I wish to speak to you about a private concern,” he said vaguely as he looked down at her.

“Go on Data, what is it?”

“I believe I have charged you with the keeping of a DNA sample of sorts,” he said flatly.

“Um, yeah,” she replied awkwardly, unsure of why he was bringing it up now.

“Do you know if it is possible that this sample is the same as what made Zoe?”

Beverly considered the question. She hadn’t thought about it before and never tested it.

“Do you think Dr. Soong would have recreated a synthetic sample for you?”

“I believe it is possible. He did want us to have all the things that any other living being could have,” he said with importance causing the doctor to give him an odd look.

“He told you that?” she questioned suspiciously at his use of ‘us’.

“Yes, of course. Before he...died,” he told her, saddened by the acknowledgement of his father’s death. 

“Right. Well...I can test it if you want,” she offered as she casually folded her hands in her desk.

The android frowned at her less than enthusiastic response. “Could you do that now, perhaps?”

“What’s the rush? It’s not as though you and Wesley need to start making a second baby,” she rebutted as she sat up straighter.

“Not at present, however we may wish to in the near future,” he said softly.

“Strange,” she said as she narrowed her eyes at him, “you didn’t correct me.”

“Correct you?”

“I said ‘second baby’ and you didn’t correct me and say that this would be your first with her,” Beverly told him even more convinced that something weird was going on.

“Semantics,” he said with a shrug.

“Sure,” she said unswayed in her suspicions. “Are you looking forward to seeing your mother tomorrow?” she asked after another moment of silence as though to test his reaction.

The android looked a little taken aback, but tried to appear as though he was unaffected by her question. “It will be good to see my mother, yes.”

“Funny, I didn’t think you were calling her that anymore,” the redhead noted with a cunning grin. She was now convinced that there was definitely something un-Data like about the android.

“Doctor, what game are you playing?” he wondered as he came to lean forward on her desk.

“I’m not sure. I guess I’m trying to discern what game you’re playing,” she countered with a raised brow.

“I am not playing any game, I assure you. My intentions are pure and I will not be deterred from being with my family,” he said ominously as he stared her down.

“So you’re still in love with my daughter?” she asked unsure.

“I have never stopped being in love with her,” he said quite firmly.

Beverly knew that there was no possible way that this android standing in front of her could be anyone but Data, however her mother’s intuition was telling her to trust him, even if he wasn’t.

“I’ll run the tests and let you know by tomorrow,” she told him, finally giving him what he wanted.

“That would be very considerate of you,” he said kindly as he straightened his posture again. “And perhaps you will wait until I come to see you to tell me the results. This is not something we should discuss freely.”

“Of course,” she said with a quick nod.

“Thank you, Beverly.”

“And thank you.”

The android looked uncertain. “For what, if I might ask?”

“For taking care of Wesley and Zoe,” she told him warmly.

“It is my absolute pleasure and privilege,” he replied with a soft smile before leaving her office.

Beverly still wasn’t sure that she’d been talking to Data, but somehow it didn’t matter. There was no logical way that Lore could be walking around on their ship pretending to be his brother. He was on Jaros II, or at least he was supposed to be. Besides, she would have been more terrified of Lore. She definitely wouldn’t have been chitchatting about his commitment to her daughter.

......

When Wesley returned to her quarters she found her friend and her daughter asleep on the bed. The cat was curled up between them, snug against Robin’s prominent midsection. It was a wonderful picture she hoped to remember for years to come. Especially if things were about to change as much as she suspected they would.

“Hey Wes,” Robin said with a yawn as she opened her eyes. She patted the bed beside her and invited her to sit with them.

Wesley took her friend’s invitation and sat in the edge of the mattress. “How did it go?” she whispered.

“We went to Sickbay just to be sure, but Zoe really picked up again when Data came by and spent a few minutes with her,” she explained.

“Oh, Data made her feel better?” she asked with concern, worried that maybe it hadn’t been Data who paid them a visit.

“Yeah, he’s so good with her now. She’s really taken with him.”

The young mother was sure that it was Lore and not Data her friend had seen with her daughter. She did her best not to worry about it, but she was left wondering what exactly the android was up to wandering around Sickbay pretending to be his brother.

“I don’t know how you do this,” Robin added as she looked over at the sleeping toddler.

“Do what?” her friend asked as she too watched the girl.

“Parenting,” she sighed. “She’s so helpless. It was so hard watching her become so distraught and not knowing why, or how I could help her.”

“But you did help her and I think you’ll do just fine,” Wesley told her with a supportive pat on her leg.

“How did you manage? So far from home and your family?”

“That’s the thing,” Wesley said with a faraway look. “I wasn’t without family. They were my family.”

“I still can’t over your relationship with Lore,” Robin groaned.

“You’ve never even met him. He wasn’t that different than Data is now.”

“Yeah, but now Lore is nothing like Data is now.”

“That’s true,” Wesley conceded with another sigh. Although to her mind he was still trying to do what he could to be a good man.

......

Deanna Troi was on her way to the Bridge when she caught sight of Data in the corridor. She called to him to wait for her and found it odd that he didn’t stop right away.

“Is everything alright, Data? I hope you aren’t avoiding me because of our conversation the other day?” Deanna inquired as she came to stand beside the android.

She had no inkling that the synthetic man she stopped wasn’t Data at all, but Lore. He did his best to hold back on his emotions and remain indifferent to the exotic woman who always found a way to bring out the worst in him.

“No, of course not, Counsellor,” he replied with a weak smile. “I simply have a lot on my mind.”

“That’s saying something if you’re distracted by your thoughts,” she said with a good natured grin.

“I am quite concerned about Zoe. Have you spent much time with her?”

Deanna looked away for a moment and the android noted that she almost appeared to be guilty. “No, I’m not proud to say that I’ve been keeping my distance from Wesley, so I’ve only seen the little girl a few times when she was with Beverly.”

“You cannot understand Wesley’s continued affections for Lore,” he offered with false sympathy.

“I would love to know who could,” she added with a frown. 

Lore watched her struggle to remain calm and decided that he would have to accept that no one on this ship was on his wife’s side, except perhaps her mother.

“Was there a reason why you stopped me?” he asked plainly in an attempt to move their conversation along.

“Oh, well...I had been thinking about what you said about trying to get Lore the help he needs and I was considering contacting a colleague of mine to evaluate his mental state,” she explained.

“There is no need for that at this time,” he informed her. “I have not been able to move froward with his case yet and I would not want to put you out of your way without a legal foundation for your cause.”

Really he just didn’t want anyone poking around and finding out that he was missing. He was surprised that no one was aware of his prison break yet. He decided that Maddox must be keeping things hushed to save his reputation.

“I understand. Well, I can’t say that I’m all that surprised.”

Lore frowned before he caught himself and soften his features again. “You believe he does not deserve redemption, even after he begged for your help?”

“I never said that he begged,” she shot back, offended. “Believe me, he didn’t actually want my help. He was only trying to trick me.”

“That is unfortunate. Imagine the haunting ramifications for you if he had sincerely made a plea to you and you ignored him,” he said in hushed, accusatory tones.

“He had already gone too far,” she rebutted harshly, her eyes burning in anger.

“Had he? What if it had been myself who came to you? Would you have dismiss me as well?”

Deanna fixed him with a piteous look. “Data, you are nothing like Lore and I don’t want to discuss this again.”

“Perhaps I am more like Lore than you realize, only I was given the chance to rectify my misdeeds,” he said with equally amounts of pity and anger.

“Lore can never make up for what he did to you. It was malicious,” she said adamantly.

“He was in pain. Pain that only increased tenfold with that damned chip in his head!” This time he was shouting and the empath felt his anger, but what really surprised her was the self-loathing she sensed in him.

“Data, are you alright?” she asked softer than before. “I’m really worried about you.”

“I am fine,” he said though he sounded unsure. “I apologize for my outburst. Do not concern yourself. I will not spend as much time and effort on my brother any longer.”

“I think that’s for the best,” she told him as she placed a hand on his arm. “You’re needed here and now by the people who love you.”

“Yes, I am,” he said. He couldn’t argue when all he wanted was to take who and what he needed and make his escape.

.....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reference to :‘Second Time Around’ chapter 30 and Data revealing that he had the DNA samples.


	32. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Juliana has come for a visit and Data starts to have second thoughts.

Wesley woke the next morning to the sound of her daughter’s laughter. It was still one of the best sounds she’d ever heard. She was glad that Zoe was feeling better, but had a moment of panic when she realized that she hadn’t woken when her daughter had been taken from her crib. 

As she came out into the main living area she was a little afraid to see who would be with her; Data or Lore. Not that she’d seen Lore since his bizarre appearance the day before. The young mother was surprised to discovered why Zoe was so happy. Not only did she have her uncle’s full attention—at least she was fairly sure it was her uncle—but her grandmother’s as well.

“Juliana,” Wesley said softly as though she couldn’t believe her eyes. 

The woman stood and came towards her. She had the same sparkling eyes and warm smile, but she was most definitely older than the last time she’d seen her—red hair now silver.

“Lee, it is you,” Juliana said as she took her into her arms.

“I’m so sorry you never knew the truth. I can’t imagine how horrible it was for you to lose Zoe like that,” Wesley rambled overcome with emotion.

“And I can’t believe you knew that there was a strong possibility that our colony would be destroyed and kept it to yourself,” Juliana said in response. “That’s one heck of a burden to carry around.”

“I guess maybe I should have said something, but temporal law and all that,” she added as they moved apart again.

“Well, it’s all in the past now,” the older woman said kindly. “When Data told me that he knew you he failed to mention that you were living with him.”

“I’m slightly ashamed to say that I was involved with Data before I fell for Lore,” the brunette confessed, her cheeks burning. “Also, we’re not really together anymore.”

“Hmm, I see,” Juliana said as she looked from Wesley to Data. Even Data wore an expression that could only be described as shameful, which was unusual.

“It was a mutual decision. Wesley is still in love Lore, despite everyone’s efforts to convince her not to be and I am in love with someone else as well,” Data explained.

Wesley smiled a little to herself with relief that this was definitely Data. 

“You are?” the android’s mother asked with interest. 

“I do not wish to discuss them with you at this time,” he added with a frown.

“Data, lighten up. She’s your mother,” Wesley chided.

“No she is not. She is the woman who happened to be involved with my father, who convinced him to abandon me when they evacuated,” he countered without changing his attitude.

“Oh please. Why do you think I got yanked out of there when I did?” Wesley said with annoyance.

“Why did you, Lee? Did it have something to do with the end of the colony?” Juliana inquired.

“Yes. I couldn’t be there..I was never meant to be there, but I really couldn’t be there at the end. Data was always meant to be left behind so that he could end up in Starfleet,” she explained.

“Oh really?” Juliana noted with a knowing hum. 

“It can be fate and I can still find you untrustworthy,” Data told her unaffected by the new information.

The older woman smiled despite his obvious dismissal of her. She moved to the sofa and her granddaughter.

“So, Lee, if your husband were a free man tomorrow would you go to him?” Juliana wondered as she placed Zoe on her lap.

Wesley looked from Juliana to Data and blushed. She could tell Data disapproved of the question. “I don’t know that I could raise Zoe on the run,” she confessed.

“That wasn’t what I asked,” noted the the scientist, laced with sudden suspicion. “I asked what would you do if he were free; meaning no longer a criminal?”

“Oh.” Wesley had to pause and think about the notion for a moment even though her heart already knew the answer. “I guess I would go to him then.”

“If Lore were no longer a criminal, he could come and be with you here,” Data advised his ex-girlfriend.

“I doubt that. There’s too much bad blood between him and the crew. It wouldn’t be fair,” countered Wesley.

“Then you would leave with your daughter and be separated from the only family you have ever known?” Data asked with mounting concern.

“Come now, Data,” Juliana interjected. “Lee has an import bond with you. I’m sure she would keep in touch.”

“Maybe we should discuss something else,” Wesley suggested as she began collecting the toys off the floor.

“Well, I was thinking that it would be nice if you visited Atrea IV. I’ve already told my husband, Pran, all about you and he would love to meet you and Zoe.”

“That’s very kind of you to offer, but it might be a while. I’m still adjusting to being back on the Enterprise after being gone for so long,” Wesley explained politely.

“The invitation stands. Anytime you want to come and stay with us; you and yours—no matter the circumstance,” Juliana added with a wink.

The young mother paused and stared at her old friend for a moment. She was sure that Juliana was just being motherly and kind and there was no way that she inferring that Lore was welcome to join them as well. At least she was fairly sure.

“Thanks, Juliana. That means a lot,” she replied with a grin.

......

Data was more than ready to get on with his day. He left Dr. Tainer with his former girlfriend and her daughter. He still wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about the whole debacle. The android was certain that he could never have any further romantic entanglements with Wesley, but knowing that left him with uncertainty for his relationship with Zoe.

The girl intrigued him and he felt as though it would be an injustice to her not to pursue some kind of family role. He was especially concerned that her mother wasn’t being honest about severing all ties with his brother. He couldn’t just stand by and watch the child get pulled into their unhealthy need to be together.

These thoughts played over and over in the back of Data’s mind as he went about his day. His concern for Zoe grew more and more as he replayed possible outcomes for her life if left under the care of her mother, or worse—her criminal father. He decided to come up with a way to impose himself in a more permanent, tangible capacity in her life. If Lore could make a paternal claim on the girl, why couldn’t he?

The Second Officer was deep in thought as he sat at the bar in Ten Forward. He was waiting for Geordi to join him so he could run some hypothetical scenarios by him. He was still deep in thought when he felt someone take the seat next to him. He was surprised that it wasn’t Geordi, but Grady who had joined him.

“What are you doing here?” Data inquired frankly in a less than polite manner.

“I was looking for you,” the young man informed him as he narrowed his eyes. “Is this a bad time?” 

“It is not the most opportune time, but since you are here you may as well tell me why,” the android said without humour.

“Way to make a guy feel special,” Grady muttered as he stood again.

“You are leaving?”

“Yeah, well I was expecting a warmer reception after what we’ve been to each other lately,” he said with unguarded annoyance. “But clearly I’m not that important to you.”

“Grady, you are very special to me. I am distracted by other concerns right now,” Data told him as a means of explanation for his rude behaviour.

“Damn it Data; I’ve been waiting for weeks to get your attention and even now I don’t have it,” Grady complained as his cheeks and pointed ear tips turned red. “I’m not some play thing. If you don’t want me in your life just say so.”

“I do want you in my life, but I cannot be distracted right now,” Data rebutted, lost on why the young man didn’t understand.

“Tell me what’s so important then. Explain why you don’t have time for me,” he demanded.

“It is nothing you should concern yourself with,” the android countered bluntly.

“Data...get a clue. If you want us to be in a relationship and not some kind torrid lovers, you need to let me in. I should mean more to you than some sexual experiment,” Grady snapped, offended.

“Things have become more complicated with Wesley,” Data told him reluctantly. “She may be considering leaving the Enterprise and taking her daughter with her.”

“So what?” the young man noted with a shrug. “You broke up with her, right?”

“Her daughter is special and quite important to me,” he said in hushed tones as though it was a secret.

“I know kids can add complications to a relationship, but Data you just met her a few weeks ago. Zoe is Wesley’s daughter, not yours.”

“It is more...complex than that,” Data added with a pained look.

“Let me guess, you don’t want to tell me about it?” Grady huffed with frustration. “Look, I’ve already been away from Earth for six weeks. I came to tell you that I’m making arrangements for my return trip.”

“You are going back to Earth? When?” That got the synthetic man’s attention.

“Soon. Probably in a couple of days,” he explained. “I don’t really have a choice. I’ve stayed here as long as I could, but your attitude towards me is making me feel horrible and I think I should return to treatment before I do something I might regret.”

“Grady, I never meant to make you feel badly,” Data said sincerely as he softened towards him. “Please forgive my inability to be sensitive to your needs.”

“It’s fine. I shouldn’t have stayed in the first place. What chance did I honestly have to find my way back into your life when I was never a staple in it to begin with,” he rambled.

“I am sorry you feel that way,” the android said with a touch of sadness.

“Data, I don’t need your pity. All I ever wanted was your love and respect. Shame on me for thinking you would give me either of those things,” said Grady cruelly as he turned his back on his paramour and left.

The android wanted to follow him, but was stilled by that same overwhelming, paralyzingly feeling. All he could do was watch him walk away.

Geordi passed the forlorn looking youth on his way up to the bar. He raised his brows at his friend in a questioning fashion. “What’s wrong with Grady?”

“I believe I may have used him for my own physical pleasure,” Data confessed openly.

“You’re joking,” the engineer blurted as he looked over his shoulder to where Grady had been a moment ago. “Data, you don’t do that.”

“I did not think that I did, however I have no other explanation for what happened between Grady and myself over the past two days.”

“You mean you fooled around, but don’t have any real feelings for him?” Geordi asked discretely.

“I do feel something, but it may not be love,” the android confided, ashamed of himself.

“That’s not good. That kid doesn’t need that kind of thing right now,” Geordi said with disapproving air.

“Perhaps I should attempt to make amends,” Data noted as he stood to follow Grady, his earlier worries over Zoe momentarily forgotten.

“Hey Data, why don’t you let him go for now. Besides we have a poker game in an hour. Maybe you should spend that time with Wesley and Zoe.”

Data frowned and shook his head. “Wesley and I have ended our romantic relationship.”

“Really? Robin said you two looked pretty cosy together yesterday. Did you break up because of Grady?”

“We broke up for several reasons, though I believe Robin was mistaken. I did not see Wesley yesterday except to break off our relationship,” Data explained to his friend.

“That’s weird. She said you came to check on Wes and Zoe after the asteroid field incident. She thought it was sweet of you to drop everything to see if they were okay,” Geordi explained in kind.

“I did no such thing, though I did consider the idea,” he said with some hesitation, now uncertain if maybe he had a glitch in his memory.

“Huh, I guess maybe Robin was wrong,” Geordi conceded, knowing that it was easier to believe his girlfriend was wrong than his android friend.

“She must be,” Data added with a frown. He knew that there could only be one other explanation if Robin had seen them together and it involved his brother; and he wasn’t ready to entertain it.

......


	33. Malfunction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The line blurs between which is the evil twin.

Juliana was sitting with her granddaughter at the small table in her guest quarters. Zoe was secured in a high chair so that she could help her arrange some flowers in a vase. It seemed like yesterday that they’d been together doing something quite similar on Omicron Theta. It didn’t help that Zoe was the same age as she was over thirty years ago. It was going to take a bit of getting used to for the scientist.

The chime went on her door and she welcomed her guest. The woman was surprised to see that it was Data. He had only dropped Zoe off an hour earlier. 

“What happened to your officer’s night?” Juliana asked as she turned her attention back to the toddler.

“I decided that I would rather spend time with Zoe,” he said with a sparkle in his eyes as he sat down next to the girl. “Looks like you have daisies and tulips; two of your favourites,” he said to Zoe with enthusiasm.

The little girl laughed and nodded. Then she picked up a daisy and handed it to the android. “For you,” she said.

“Thank you,” he beamed as he took the flower.

The grandmother watched them with each other and a thought occurred to her.

“It’s so unfortunate that you can’t work things out with Lee,” said Juliana as she joined them. “I can’t imagine you wanting to risk being away from both her and Zoe.”

“We will work things out, Mother. There is no need to worry,” he said without thinking.

It may have been decades since she’d last seen her other son, but there was no doubt in her mind that it was him sitting with his daughter and not Data. She pushed down a wave of panic as she took a breath and realized that he was enjoying their company and not behaving strangely. It was a small consolation.

“But I thought you broke up?” she asked as if to test how far he would take his charade.

“Never. We fight all the time, but we always make up.”

“I thought you were in love with someone else?”

Lore frowned. He’d forgotten about his dumb brother falling for some pretty boy. 

“That was a mistake. I would never choose someone else over my family,” he said quietly as he kept his eyes on his daughter.

“You know that invitation to come to Atrea IV wasn’t just for Lee and Zoe. You’re always welcome as well,” she said just as softly as she dared to hold his hand from across the table.

The android looked at her hand on his and then met his mother’s gaze. “Does this mean you forgive me?” he asked with a hint of sadness.

“Forgive you?” she repeated with a nervous chuckle. “I’ve been waiting for you to forgive me.”

“For abandoning me?” he inquired as he watched her for a reaction. The question was valid for either son at this point since she’d managed to leave them both behind on the decimated colony.

“Yes. I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you,” she told him with regret.

“You were afraid. I seem to have a knack for frightening people; even those I love,” he admitted openly.

“Then let’s begin again. Pran and I have this delightful little summer cabin that I think you would really like,” his mother told him with affection.

Lore couldn’t help but smile. The woman hadn’t so much as sent him a message while he was in prison, but he didn’t care. There was something about his mother that made him warm to her. Maybe it was in his fundamental programming. Whatever the case, he wanted to know her again and he was almost certain that she knew exactly who he was.

“I’d like that,” he told her warmly as he let a contraction slip as if to see if he was right.

Juliana caught it, but pretended she didn’t as she patted his hand lovingly.

.......

Wesley entered Juliana’s guest quarters to see how things were going. She’d just had an argument with Robin about whether or not she was still with Data and she was feeling a little anxious about Lore wandering around the ship.

“Juliana, where’s Zoe?” Wesley asked without thinking anything was amiss.

“Data came and took her home for the night,” the silver haired woman informed her.

Wesley’s face fell. “Data’s at the poker game.”

“No, that can’t be right. Zoe was very happy to go him and we both know that there’s only one android on this ship,” Juliana said quite insistently.

The young mother’s heart dropped into her boots. She gave Juliana a suspicious look as though she knew more than she was letting on. “How long ago did you say Data was here?” she asked with some urgency.

“Less than five minutes,” the scientist told her as though still not understanding what the trouble was.

“Great. Stay here,” Wesley told her as she took off; out of her guest quarters.

Juliana was left shaking her head at the other woman’s odd behaviour. Surely she would have been fine with either android taking Zoe with them.

Wesley ran down the corridor and called out to the computer, “Computer, locate Zoe Crusher.”

“Zoe Crusher is on turbolift four heading towards Shuttle Bay two,” chirped the female voice of the ship’s computer.

“Shit,” she cursed as she hopped into the closest turbolift. 

As she started on her way to the shuttle bay she began to think that she should call a security team, but she wasn’t sure just yet if it was necessary.

When the doors opened she hit her comm badge. “Wesley Crusher to Lt Comdr Data.”

“Data, here,” he replied promptly. 

“Are you still playing poker?” she inquired as she tried to keep the panic out of her voice.

“Yes, is there a problem?” Data asked in return.

“I’ll let you know in a minute. Crusher out.” she said vaguely as she closed off their conversation.

Wesley slowly entered the shuttle bay and looked around. She didn’t see anything, or anyone suspicious right away. Then there was a familiar squeal and she saw her daughter’s plush bear roll out beside one of the smaller shuttles, followed by a golden hand that snatched it back.

The woman stifled a cry and held a hand over her mouth as she continued to move towards the shuttle. As she came up beside it she tried to listen to decipher whether or not the android had noticed her approach.

“The door’s open if you care to join us,” came Lore’s lyrical offer.

Wesley took a deep breath and then swallowed down her fear. She knew it wouldn’t help her to fall apart and Zoe wouldn’t understand if she became hysterical.

“Mama,” Zoe cried joyfully as her mother stepped into the cabin of the shuttle.

“Hey baby girl,” Wesley said softly as she kept her focus on the madman holding her daughter.

“Don’t be shy, Lee. Come and join us,” Lore said with a sly grin. “We were just about to step out and go for a picnic.”

“Picnic, Mama,” Zoe repeated with a clap of her hands.

“That sounds like fun,” she said with a fake smile and quiver in her voice.

Then, when Wesley came closer, Lore hit a button on the control dash and the large shuttle door closed behind her.

“What are the chances I can still use the same codes from eight years ago?” Lore mused.

“Silly Papa,” Zoe said with a giggle.

“Even Zoe doesn’t think they’ll work,” she told him a frown.

Lore kissed his daughter on the top of her head. “That’s because Zoe’s a genius; not like her grandmother,” he said rather coldly. “She’s just like the old man; still can’t tell us apart to save her life.”

Wesley took a chance and slid in beside him on the long, padded bench. Lore gave her a sideways glance and smirked at her willingness to get close to him.

“We won’t get very far once the alert goes out that an unauthorized launch has started,” she said as she casually played with Zoe’s hair. 

“But you know how to trick the sensors because you’re clever and you know this ship as well as any senior officer,” he said with something akin to pride.

“Maybe I do,” she told him as she looked up into his eyes in an almost playful way. “Maybe I don’t.”

“You know, I came here to take Zoe so you could know the pain and anguish I’ve suffered for almost a decade; not knowing what happened to her, or if I would ever see her again,” he confessed as he tentatively touched Wesley’s cheek with his free hand. “But now that you’re here, we could be a family again.”

“Lore, they’ll hunt you down,” she reminded him with sadness in her eyes.

“Not if you help me,” he countered with determination.

“I can’t time travel anymore,” she told him with desperation in her voice. “I can’t make our escape any easier.”

“‘Our escape’. I can’t believe you just said that,” he said with longing before leaning over to kiss her on the mouth.

Wesley didn’t fight him. In fact she couldn’t help herself from welcoming him to her. She did still love him and couldn’t stop from wanting him to hold her. He was like a drug and she’d forgotten how addictive he was.

“Mama, sleepy,” Zoe said with a yawn as she restlessly kicked her feet against her father’s leg.

“What were you planning? Did you even bring anything for her to sleep in?” Wesley asked sardonically as though it was any other day.

“There’s a bag under the other bench, smart mouth,” he snarked in response.

Wesley fixed the android with a dubious glare, but looked anyways. She was pleasantly surprised to find a folding playpen and bedding. “Hmm, I’m impressed.”

Lore rolled his eyes at the woman and then waited for her to set up the thing so that he could lay Zoe down in it.

“You realize this qualifies as aiding and abetting,” he whispered as he situated the toddler in her new set-up.

“What choice do I have? You’re a psychopath,” she said with a shrug. “You could k-i-l-l me at any moment.”

“You know, I always knew there was something off about you,” Lore said with wag of his finger as he sat in the pilot seat. “I guess there would have to be for you to put up with me for so long.”

“Oh Lore, you sweet talker,” she huffed as she sat down next to him in the co-pilot seat. She looked back at their daughter and felt satisfied that she was secure and safe.

“How much of an uproar did you cause when you came looking for Zoe?” the android asked offhandedly as his fingers began dancing across the console.

“Barely any,” she replied frankly as she remembered that Data might be waiting to hear from her again.

“Can you trick the sensors from here, or do you need to be somewhere else?”

“Lore, listen to me. We can’t just take off. We need a better plan.”

“What are you talking about?” Lore questioned as he gave her a suspiciously look. “Are you stalling? Maybe you do still want my brother as your soulmate?”

“I’m not stalling. I only lost faith in us because I thought I couldn’t save you. I believed it was too late for us to ever be together,” she said quickly as she knocked his hand from the console. “But here you are and nothing’s changed. Just promise me that you’re done with assaulting officers and torturing drones.”

“You know, those Borg drones were the ones that wanted me to try and fix them,” he said defensively. “Turned out I wasn’t so handy with cybernetics while I had that chip in my head. Man was that thing horrible. I was like the Mad Hatter at a tea party.”

Wesley shot him a look and shook her head at him. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Tell me how ridiculous I am when we get the hell out of here and get live free and clear from all this nonsense,” he rebutted as he looked as though he would start trying codes.

Then Wesley grabbed both of Lore’s hands and held them tightly to her. She knew that an alarm would sound as soon as he tried to hack into the Enterprise’s systems. She thought of what he said and how she would be leaving behind everyone else she’d ever loved or cared for; and she couldn’t do it.

“What’s wrong? Why are you being so clingy?” Lore demanded with a touch of panic.

The young mother looked back at Zoe again. “I can’t do this. I can’t leave my life behind again...I don’t want to run away.”

“Don’t think of it as running away, my love. Think of it as gaining our freedom.”

“But then what?”

“I have everything worked out. Don’t worry.”

“But I am worried. When your father took Juliana and they lived in isolation they didn’t last more than a few years. It destroyed their marriage.”

“For fuck’s sake, Lee. Don’t make me change my mind,” he said coldly as he yanked his hands away and stared her down.

She knew she should be terrified because she knew he meant that he would attack her, but she could only stare up at him with pity in her eyes.

“Data was going to help you,” she said softly.

“Your wonderful Data got the attention of Dr. Maddox. He thought this would be a prime opportunity to reprogram me,” Lore snapped cruelly. “Android’s don’t need therapy, oh no—not when you can just rewrite them to behave like good little drones.”

“That would never happen,” she said adamantly. “Data would never let that happen to you.”

“Yes he would. How do you think I got away so easily? Maddox got greedy and then he got cocky. He was ready to take me to the Daystrom Institute. His biggest mistake was not deactivating me while he had the chance.”

“You’re lying,” she said in disbelief.

“Look at my face, Lee. I am not lying,” he said with conviction. 

Wesley searched his face and saw only fear and loathing. There was no room for deception. They seemed to come to an unspoken understanding of one another. She frowned and then readied herself for another fight.

“I believe you, but I have a better plan than trying to run only to bring down an entire fleet of ships on us,” she said as she sat herself forward and took a steadying breath.

“Fine. I’m listening,” he grumbled as he turned his body towards her and left the console for the moment.

“Leave with Juliana,” she said plainly. “I feel like maybe she knows that you’re you and not Data.”

“I think maybe she does too. I only said that thing before out of habit. But do you really believe she’ll help me?”

“I think she feels like she owes you one,” Wesley clarified.

“And you? Do you owe me one?” Lore asked as a way of trying to press her to admit if she would follow through and join him.

“Hey, I haven’t announced your visit to anyone yet.”

Lore was about to say something else when there was a loud bang on the outside of the shuttle hatch. They both jumped with a start and Zoe cried out.

“Fuck,” Lore cursed as he bolted for his daughter.

“Wesley, open the door!” yelled Data from the other side. “If you do not open the door I will have to open it by force.”

Wesley had a dizzying wave of déjà vu for a memory of a trauma that never happened. She remembered Data trying to disengage the lock on the holodeck doors as she lay beaten and dying. Lore stared at her as she turned ghostly pale and had to steady herself on the back of the pilot seat.

“Lee, are you alright?” Lore whispered as he gently rocked Zoe to calm her.

The woman managed to nod weakly as she regained her composure. “Lore give Zoe to me and get under the deck plate,” she instructed.

Lore shot her a look, but did as she asked. As soon as he was out of sight Wesley reached over and released the lock on the hatch. A moment later it opened and Data rushed inside the shuttle.

“Where is he?” Data demanded as he looked around and briskly went up to the cock pit to search for his brother.

“Who Data? I’m sorry we gave you a scare, but Zoe must have hit the controls. We were just exploring.”

The android returned to her side and gently tapped the large open bag with his foot. “Why do you need so much luggage if you are just exploring?”

“I didn’t...I mean we don’t.” She was struggling to keep her wits about her. It was almost impossible to lie to Data on a good day, but right now she was caught in a pretty deep lie and she was afraid he was never going to believe her.

“Wesley, do not lie to me. I was playing poker when you alerted me to a possible problem. It was then that I was reminded of Geordi’s comment about how happy Robin was that we were getting along. I had believed that he was mistaken, however he said that Robin witnessed us kissing in our quarters directly after the ship had cleared the asteroid field.”

The young mother winced at her bad luck. “Data, I can explain,” she began to say, but he wasn’t done speaking.

“I was assisting to repair the damage that was done to the forward nacelle and was no where near our quarters. Then Deanna mentioned how sorry she was about an argument we had yesterday afternoon. Either I am experiencing glitches in my memory, or Lore is here and you are hiding him.”

“Data that’s crazy. Lore is on Jaros II,” she said plainly holding her ground.

“Then let us return to Dr. Tainer’s guest quarters and ask her why you took Zoe from her so abruptly,” he said. Then he took her by the arm and pulled her towards the door. 

She felt like the universe had turned upside down. Data was acting more and more erratically and she didn’t care for it one bit.

“Data stop!” she yelled as she tried to get away from him. “You’re not behaving normally. This isn’t you. I thought you wanted to help Lore?.”

Zoe started to whimper and cried against her mother’s shoulder and Data finally let go of her arm. Wesley tried to soothe her daughter.

“I cannot help my brother if he has already helped himself,” he said coldly. “Where is he?” Data asked again, impatiently.

“Jaros II,” she said again with exasperation. “Hypothetically, if he was here—Do you want to find him because he’s a wanted criminal, or because he was just about to steal me away from you?”

Data paused and narrowed his eyes at her. “He is a criminal. Full stop. If you decide to throw your life away on him that his your business, but please do not ruin Zoe’s life as well.”

“Can you hear yourself? What are you going to do Data? Are you going to try and prove your paternity so that you can take her from me? Because that won’t work!”

“I could prove that she is a hybrid and needs special care; something that you cannot provide for her,” he argued back maliciously.

“You would never do such a horrible thing! Your father did everything he could to keep people from finding out what she really was,” she ranted with indignation. “He loved her and wanted to protect her and you would turn around and throw her to the wolves just to spite me? What is wrong with you?”

“There is nothing wrong with me. You, however, are riddled with dishonesty and erratic behaviour,” he rebutted sharply. “How could you choose that murderous monster over me?”

“You dumped me!”

“No, ‘Lee’! You chose to lower yourself to him and opened your legs wide long before I dumped your pathetic Stockholm stricken ass!”

Wesley had never in her life heard such cruel utterances from her beloved friend’s mouth. She was shocked and horrified. Tears were streaming down her face and he still didn’t show any sign of remorse.

“Oh stop crying. You know what you are, Wesley Crusher? You are a liar and a cheater and a slut!”

Data suddenly stopped talking; a look of confusion on his golden features. Then he spasmed before going stiff. Wesley quickly moved out of the way as she watched the android fall face first to the floor of the shuttle bay.

“What the fuck was that?” asked Lore with bewilderment as he stared down at his unconscious brother. He was holding a tool in his hand that looked like a billy club.

“Did you just shut him down?” Wesley questioned through her tears.

“He’s lucky that’s all I did,” Lore noted as he turned off the device and stowed it in the back of his pants. “No one talks to my woman like that.”

Then Lore steered them back into the shuttle, leaving the door open this time. He cradled Zoe and did what he could to calm her. Wesley did her best to regain her composure on her own, but she kept looking over at Data.

“What was that thing?”

“Maddox was going to use it on me. I guess it’s an android zapper,” he said offhand. Zoe was coming around and slowly reached for her mother again. Wesley took her without hesitation.

“Lore, my love, what are we going to do?” She was doing her best to continue to hold herself together, but her Second Officer was unconscious on the floor and she honestly didn’t know what was happening anymore.

“You never actually admitted to him that I was here. I’ll get back in the crawl space and you take Zoe and report his malfunction. It’ll be fine. You saw him, he was wacko. Just claim he shorted out when he got too emotional,” Lore explained.

“Okay,” she conceded quietly as she bounced her daughter. “Okay and then you’ll leave with Juliana.”

“Exactly.”

Lore cupped her tear soaked face and kissed her one last time. Then he kissed Zoe’s forehead and hugged them together. 

“I think you leaving sometime soon is the best thing for my brother. You appear to be driving him mad and not in the good way like with me,” he told her lightheartedly.

“Hide. I’m going to call for help,” she told him as she reluctantly let go of his hand.

Once Lore and his baggage were safely hidden away, Wesley hit the comm in the shuttle.

“Ensign Crusher to Lt Comdr LaForge,” she called.

“LaForge here.”

“There’s something wrong with Data. I think he might have crashed,” she told him followed by an honest grief filled sob.

“What!? Where are you!?”

“Shuttle bay Two.”

.....


	34. Choosing Sides

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just as plans are being made to leave the Enterprise, the crew is visited by someone unexpected with some unsettling news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These next few chapters are longer. Feedback is always welcome...especially if something doesn’t make sense. :)

Geordi crossed his fingers as he pressed the switch in Data’s back. When the android failed to come back online he furrowed his brow and ran another scan. They were still sitting on the floor in Shuttle Bay Two, but the engineer was beginning to think he’d need to move the android to the cybernetics lab if he couldn’t get him functional again soon.

Juliana was sitting by Wesley’s side and stroking her short hair. To Geordi it looked as though the scientist was comforting his distraught friend, but they were actually conspiring about Lore and how to get him off the ship.

Zoe was playing inside the shuttle and whispering to her father beneath the deck plates. It was like a game to her and anyone who didn’t know Lore was hidden away would think she was playing pretend. At least that’s what her mother was hoping.

Beverly entered the bay in hopes that she could help Geordi resolve Data’s inability to reactivate. She caught sight of her daughter being comforted by the other woman. It made her smile a little. She was pleasantly surprised to find that she didn’t feel threatened by someone else taking on such a mothering role in her child’s life.

“He just won’t switch back on, Doc. I’m starting to worry that maybe he’s more damaged than I thought,” Geordi explained as Beverly approached them.

“What happened?” she asked with concern. “How could he suddenly become so overly emotional that he would shut down? This has never happened before.”

“Maybe these new emotions are evolving beyond what he’s capable of managing,” Geordi offered with a shrug. “Wes said he was yelling at her about Lore again.”

“It isn’t like Data to raise his voice. Do you think Grady has something to do with his outburst?” Beverly countered, trying not to focus on Lore for the time being.

“I don’t know. When Grady overwhelmed him before he didn’t completely shut down like this,” he said. “He managed to shut down aspects of his programming rather than everything all at once. They did have an argument earlier tonight. Grady looked pretty upset about it and I made Data let the kid go cool off. It’s weird that he seemed fine at the poker game, though. I just don’t know why his mood would have changed so quickly.”

“It might be worth talking to Grady,” she said in hushed tones. “We can’t just let this go unchecked if his knack is influencing Data beyond his notice.”

“Agreed. Right now I just want to get him back online. It’s really unnerving seeing him like this,” Geordi muttered with dismay.

“Did Juliana have a look at him? Maybe she knows a trick we’re missing?” she offered as she crouched down to have a look at the engineer’s scans.

“I didn’t ask her yet. It’s been a long time since she’s had anything to do with him and I just didn’t know if it was a good idea,” Geordi said with another frown.

Beverly pursed her lips and took the scanner over to the aged scientist. She handed the device over as she gave her daughter a worried look. 

“What do you think, Dr. Tainer? Any ideas?” the doctor inquired as she waited for Juliana to review the readouts.

“It looks as though he experienced a surge; some sort of energy overload,” she commented thoughtfully. “I think you might need to reset his safety at the base of his skull. It’s there to stop any such surges from frying his positronic matrix. Once it’s reset he should come back online when you try the switch again.”

“Did you get that Geordi?” Beverly asked over her shoulder.

“Got it, thanks,” he said as he felt around at the base of Data’s hairline where his head connected to neck. He found a tiny slot behind a dermal covering just large enough to slip a finger into. After so many years of running tests and diagnostics on his friend it still felt a little awkward to be feeling around somewhere new.

“Okay I found a switch and I’ve flipped it,” he announced. In his mind he was wondering how an emotional overload could be misconstrued as an energy burst. He was suspicious that things were not as he had been led to believe.

Wesley and her mother both looked to Juliana with the same expression of concern. “Give it a moment and then try his master switch,” said Dr. Tainer with confidence.

Geordi counted to a hundred in his head before trying the switch in Data’s back again. This time when he clicked it he could tell right away that something was happening. A few seconds later Data was sitting upright on the floor and looking around.

“Hello Geordi,” he greeted his friend as he was the closest in proximity. “What has happened?”

“You malfunctioned and shut down,” his friend replied with worry in his voice.

“I malfunctioned?” the android asked, mildly intrigued.

“Don’t you remember what happened?” Beverly inquired as she came closer to him.

“No I do not. The last thing I recall was Comdr Riker bluffing Geordi out of half of his chips,” Data told her with some confusion.

“Yeah, I recall that too,” Geordi grumbled still sore that he hadn’t seen it coming.

“Why are we in a shuttle bay?” the android questioned as he looked around.

“Seems like you thought Wesley was running away with her daughter,” Geordi informed him.

Data looked over to see the ensign leaning her head on Juliana’s shoulder for support. He couldn’t quite grasp why he would think she was running away. He stood up and straightened his appearance before looking to Geordi with a skeptical expression on his golden features.

“I believe I should have a word with Wesley in private,” he said in hushed tones. 

Geordi shook his head and patted his friend firmly in the shoulder. “Sure thing, but I’m gonna stay close just in case you glitch out again. I’m just happy to see you standing.”

“I am pleased that I am standing as well,” Data said with a knowing air.

The engineer motioned to the the doctor and they moved off to wait just inside the bay entrance. Juliana decided that she should join them. She retrieved her granddaughter and went off to give the pair some privacy.

“Are you alright? I must have frightened you when I collapsed,” Data said as he came to sit beside her. He could see that she had definitely had an emotional reaction as evidenced by her puffy eyes and flushed face.

“I’m fine. I was just afraid for you,” she told him sadly as she took his hand. “I’ve never seen you so worked up before. You were very angry.” She was just relived that he didn’t remember why he was angry and that he appeared to be fine now.

“Was I?” he asked as he tilted his head and tried to remember why he could have been angry with her. “I do not remember.”

“Maybe that’s for the best. I never want to see you like that again,” she said sincerely.

“What were we arguing about? Why did I believe you to be running away?”

“You thought I was running off to be with Lore,” Wesley explained. It was mostly the truth. She really didn’t want to remind him that he believed his brother was on the ship. She didn’t want him to get suspicious and start looking for him again. She also really didn’t want to revisit his colourful opinion of her.

“Lore is locked away in isolation. It would be foolish to try to see him,” Data said after some reflection. “I do not believe I was thinking clearly if that is what I thought you were doing.”

“Like I said, you were pretty angry,” she told him again.

“It is a bit disconcerting that you appear to be the only person to push the limits of my emotional programming,” he noted with a frown.

Wesley knew he was right, for some reason she really knew how to push his buttons. “I know and I’m sorry,” she said quietly.

“Do you believe I could have overreacted because of how close we once were?” he wondered as he continued to review the facts. “Grady and I had a disagreement just before the poker game and strangely I found myself more concerned over his intentions of leaving than how I was treating him.”

“I don’t understand; how were you treating him?” she countered.

“Not well,” Data confessed. “At least until I realized that he would be returning to Earth. Then I became concerned.”

“I thought it was always his intention to return to Earth? I mean, even if you decided to be together he was going to have to back at some point, right?”

“I do not know why I have so much trouble with accepting the fact that the people I care about will leave and return as needed,” Data noted sadly, recognizing his shortcomings. “I do not know why I have such strong convictions about making them stay.”

“Well you care for Grady. Of course you want him to stay,” Wesley said as she squeezed his hand.

“I have to confess that my ethical programming has made me quite aware that I may have been walking a fine line between affection and lust,” he quite frankly.

The young woman stared at her android friend for a few moments. She couldn’t imagine he would ever experience lust, or know what it was when it happened. “How do you know that’s what you felt?” she finally managed.

“Grady influenced me with several more nuanced, human emotions during his first visit to the Enterprise. He is quite well versed in lust,” he explained with a touch of shame.

Wesley considered this new piece if information for a moment. She hadn’t actually been around while the half-Selelvian had been involved with Data. She knew of the affair, but had thought it to be much more innocent than it had been. Of course she knew how good sex had been with him before her abrupt departure, but she was always unsure how much it actually meant to him. Now she had a clearer picture and it could explain why he was so outraged. 

“Oh, I see,” she muttered. “I’m sure the idea of losing Zoe didn’t help you cope with Grady leaving.”

Data wanted to add Wesley’s name to his list of concerns, but didn’t feel it was something that needed to be said. “I believe I need to work on my efforts to trust and move on before I have another melt down,” he said wisely as he removed his hand from hers and stood. “Otherwise I will not be able to trust myself with my duties, or my personal relationships.”

“Your emotions are still so new. You’ll get better with them as time goes on I’m sure.”

“How was Lore with his emotions when you knew him on Omicron Theta?” he asked. She was a little caught off-guard since he had been so reluctantly to discuss his brother and the time they’d shared.

“Actually very much like you were when you came here this evening,” she told him honestly. “It’s a little uncanny how much you remind me of him sometimes.”

Data scowled at the comparison. He didn’t like the idea of resembling Lore. He found his outbursts and abusive nature to be quite undesirable. “I believe it will be my goal from now on to never resemble my brother,” Data retorted firmly.

Wesley laughed a little at his raw admission of distain for Lore. She couldn’t help it.

As everyone funnelled out of Shuttle Bay Two a call came over the comm requesting the senior officers to report to the conference room. Beverly and Geordi exchanged looks before turning towards Data.

“Do you think you can manage, Data?” Geordi asked his friend with a touch of skepticism. If he could have had it his way they would head straight to the cybernetics lab to check over all of his functions.

“I believe I will be fine,” he said confidently as he followed the other two senior officers to the turbo lift. “Wesley, I think it would be best for you to take Zoe home and make sure she is alright. I am concerned that she may have been traumatized by what happened.”

Wesley had the same thought and nodded in acknowledgement. As the three senior officers boarded the lift another call went out. 

“Captain Picard to Ensign Crusher,” came the captain’s request.

Data instantly put a hand out to hold the lift door.

“Ensign Crusher here sir,” she answered nervously. 

“Ensign I would like you to join myself and the senior officers in the conference room,” Picard commanded over the comm.

“Yes sir; may I ask why?” she countered, though she had a sinking suspicion that she already knew the answer.

“It will all be made clear when you join us. Picard out.”

Beverly frowned at her daughter and stepped off the lift. “Why don’t you boys go on ahead. We’ll join you in a minute.”

“Is everything alright, Doc?” Geordi wondered as he picked up the change in their energy.

“It’s fine. I just need to speak to Wes,” she said as casually as possible.

The two men let the lift doors close. Once they were gone Beverly lowered her voice, although it was probably unnecessary. 

“Wes, where is he?” she asked quickly.

“Where’s who?” her daughter questioned unsure of whom she was referring to.

“Lore. I know he’s here. We had a lovely conversation yesterday,” she said without humour.

“You must be mistaken, Doctor Crusher. Lore is not here,” interjected Juliana.

“Everyone just cut the crap. If Jean-Luc is calling us all together to inform us that Lore is at large I need to know where he is,” Beverly countered.

“It’s alright Juliana. If my mom hasn’t turned him in yet I have to believe she won’t now,” Wesley assured the older woman. “He’s hiding under the deck plates in Shuttle craft three.”

“Okay. Fine. Will he stay there?”

“He’s going to stay hidden until I send for my luggage to make the return trip to Atrea IV,” explained Juliana. “Then he’ll travel with me.”

“Good. The sooner we can get him off this ship the better,” Beverly conspired. “Wes, come with me. Juliana don’t let Zoe out of your sight. I have a bad feeling about this and it might a long night.”

“The little one is safe with me,” Juliana said assertively as she picked her up in her arms.

“Don’t worry Mom, Lore has an adaptive sensor blocker. He’s been using it for years to evade all kinds of detection,” Wesley told her as they got on the lift.

“Remind me why I’m on your side in this,” Beverly huffed with frustration.

“Because I’m your kid and you love me,” her daughter guessed with a shrug.

“Right. Well let’s just say I’m doing it for Zoe,” her mother rebutted.

“Hey,” Wesley cried with offence as the doors closed. 

......

All heads turned when Doctor and Ensign Crusher entered the conference room.The whole room seemed to be anticipating their arrival.

Wesley took a step back instinctively when she saw someone she hadn’t expected to see.

“Good, finally. Everyone is familiar with Dr. Bruce Maddox, I expect,” began Picard as he motioned for the two women to take their seats. 

Geordi gave Wesley a look as she passed behind him. He could tell from her change in body temperature that she was trying not to panic.

“I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure,” said Beverly as she extended her hand to the thin man with dark hair. She had been away at Starfleet Medical when Maddox had tried to claim Data as property of Starfleet. Though they’d never met in person she was well aware of who he was. “Dr. Beverly Crusher.”

Maddox, who was not especially social, stared at the woman’s elegant hand for a moment before taking it. He didn’t say anything, but gave her a sour half grin in return.

“It has come to the attention of Starfleet Command that Lore has gone missing from his cell on Jaros II,” announced the captain.

“Lore, is missing?” It was Data who was first to react, though everyone in the room looked shocked and appalled that something like that could happen.

“He should have been deactivated and destroyed when we arrested him,” grumbled Riker without mercy.

“Yes, he is obviously too devious to be held by any prison,” added Worf.

“This is a life we are speaking of,” Picard reminded them with a hint of disappointment that his crew would react in such a harsh manner.

“Yes, but when someone willing takes the lives of others they lose the privileges of any free citizen,” Deanna noted without hesitation.

Wesley’s mouth gaped as she openly stared at the empath. 

“I could not have said it better myself, good woman,” said Maddox as he chimed in. “Lore is not a person. It’s a defective machine.”

“I take offence to that remark,” Data informed the cyberneticist. “Lore may be unstable in a mental capacity, however he does still deserve to be treated as a living, sentient life form; even if he is synthetic.”

“Dear Data, that monstrosity is nothing like you. It’s own creator deactivated it for malfunctioning,” Maddox said insistently. “It needs to be shut down.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” snapped Wesley, always ready to come to her beloved’s defence. “Lore is a sensitive being with pain and mental anguish that has gone without consideration, or treatment for far too long.”

“Wes, stop,” her mother pleaded in hushed tones as she put a firm hand on hers.

Dr. Maddox fixed the young woman with a curious look and smirked. “You’re her, aren’t you?”

“Her who?” asked Worf, who hated being caught off-guard.

“The wife,” Maddox added with a mischievous glint to his eye.

“Wife?” This time Riker was the one to be annoyed. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Will, please,” Picard sighed as he tried to get control back in the room. “If you will please explain your meaning Dr. Maddox.”

“This young woman contacted the criminal known as Lore approximately three weeks ago claiming to be it’s wife,” the man explained as he continued to stare at Wesley.

“Oh, Wes, you didn’t,” Geordi commented with dismay. The ensign shifted in her seat but made no comment.

“So, Wes, was it? What do you have to say for yourself?” Maddox prompted sharply.

“I plead the fifth, or whatever that law is that states that one spouse can’t be compelled to testified against the other,” she snarked back as she defiantly crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“You are delusional. I doubt that there is any court in the Federation that would recognize your undocumented marital status to that machine,” Maddox stated before anyone else could react.

Data had had enough of the man’s arrogance. Just because he had continued to correspond with the man, it did not make them friends. Even if he was not in favour of helping Lore to evade the law, he was still entirely done with listening to this man insult his heritage. 

“Dr. Maddox, if you are to continue to speak about Lore, or any other synthetic beings created using Soong-type android technology I would implore you to be respectful and refer to us individuals and not machines,” said Data.

Wesley couldn’t help but smile at him for standing up to the weasel. 

“Data, I understand your concern, but I think Dr. Maddox is right. If Lore is malfunctioning and no longer able to claim responsibility for his actions, then in many ways he is just a machine,” Deanna said calmly.

“I beg to differ, Counsellor,” Geordi countered without waiting for Data to respond first. “Lore is no less a person just because he’s less than in control of his faculties. I myself have struggled in the past with my own identity. Would you have suggested in your professional capacity that I be ‘deactivated’?”

“No, but you’re not a machine. Lore might actual benefit from reprogramming,” she told him honestly.

“When I was brainwashed against my will and turned into an assassin, you didn’t reprogram me. You helped me recover my humanity,” Geordi rebutted, hurt by her continued assault. As far as he was concerned any attack on Lore could result in a future attack on Data; and he wouldn’t stand by and let that happen.

“Geordi, that’s not the same thing,” Riker said as he jumped in to defend Troi.

“No, Commander. I believe it is,” Picard noted as he pushed his way forward. “I believe that Mr. LaForge has every right to make the comparison. Organic, humanoid life forms are essentially machines as well. Besides which, the moment Lore is declared a defective machine everything that Data has worked for—has earned—is called into question.”

“Exactly,” hummed the engineer.

“All this nonsense is getting us nowhere,” Maddox grumbled as he fixed his sights back on Wesley. “Just tell me if you’ve spoken to it.” Then he noticed the disparaging looks from around the table. “Him. Tell me if you’ve spoken to him.”

“No. I haven’t and even if I had I wouldn’t tell you about it,” she told him coldly.

“So no word at all? He didn’t even try to contact the girl?” Maddox asked with a cruel undertone.

“That’s enough,” Beverly all but yelled as she swooped to her daughter’s defence. “I have a question for you Dr. Maddox. Why the hell are you involved in this at all? Lore was meant to be in isolation. You have no business...no jurisdiction over him or his case. You’re just a lab rat snooping around for crumbs.”

Bruce Maddox didn’t even try to hide his hurt pride. “Are you seriously going to let her speak to me like that?” he inquired of the captain.

“Yes,” snarked Worf on his captain’s behalf. “The doctor has a valid point. You are not an officer of the law, nor of the court. You are a cyberneticist who is very far from his lab.”

“Worf is correct,” Data added with concern. “Why are you involved? You had no right to be following Lore’s incarceration. He is my responsibility, not yours.”

“Mr. Data, we are both intelligent men,” Maddox began to say, earning him a snort of derision from both Wesley and Worf. He tried to ignore them as he continued. “We both know that I’m right. Lore is far too dangerous to be left free...and since even the most secure of prisons cannot hold him, he needs to be dismantled or reprogrammed at the very least.”

“Let me guess...you’re just the man for the job?” Wesley snapped harshly.

“I’m sorry. I’m still a little unclear on who you are exactly,” Maddox said as he fixated on the young woman again.

“Her name is Wesley Crusher and she is none of your concern,” Captain Picard informed him as he stood. “I don’t know where your wild accusations have come from, but I can assure you that Ms. Crusher has had nothing to with Lore, or his escape. In fact, Dr. Maddox, the only person remotely close to criminal activity on my ship at this moment is you.”

“Captain Picard, no disrespect, but what about the girl?” Maddox asked as he tried to humble himself to his authority.

“What girl?” Picard questioned, losing his patience.

“The daughter. That woman claimed to have Lore’s child with her,” Maddox informed him with a cruel grin across his thin lips.

Picard looked to both his CMO and her daughter. Neither one dared to look at him. “Do either of you want to explain to me what he is talking about?”

“I can explain.” All heads turned expectantly to Troi. Data gave her a piteous look, as though to beg her not to speak. “You see when Wesley was fifteen she was assaulted by Lore. It’s not something she likes to talk about. She didn’t contact Lore because she’s in love with him. She was having a go at him. She’d tricked him into believing she had real feelings for him in an attempt to hurt him. It isn’t something she’s particularly proud of and we’re working through her need for vindication,” explained Deanna. “So you see, there is no child, nor could there be. Lore is an android and Wesley was born male.”

Data smiled softly at her clever storytelling; all of which was generally true and quite possible.

“Wesley was born a boy?” repeated Maddox slowly as he clearly didn’t believe it.

“Yeah. I was a boy when he assaulted me,” Wesley told him, confirming the empath’s facts. “I just wanted to see how he liked being emotionally manipulated and tricked. The rest of it is sort of a long story.”

“What?” blurted Riker. “But I thought...I mean. Didn’t you?”

Deanna gave her dear friend a look and a sharp shake of her head. She hadn’t counted on his failure to follow her bluff.

“Please excuse Commander Riker. He still has trouble accepting Wesley’s transition,” Deanna intuitively added to excuse Will’s words.

“You have an interesting crew, Captain Picard. I think your ensign needs a severe reprimand,” said Maddox as massaged his temples.

“If I may,” Data said with confidence. “I can take Dr. Maddox and review the sensor logs to prove to him once and for all that Lore is not and has not been on the Enterprise, nor had contact with any of the crew.”

“That sounds like a very good idea,” Picard said in agreement. “Then we can put this whole mess behind us.”

“To be fair, sir,” Worf said with concern. “This matter will only be put to rest when Lore is apprehended and securely restrained.”

“Yes, of course Mr. Worf,” Picard conceded. “Dismissed.”

As the senior officers left one by one—Data escorting Maddox—the captain caught Wesley’s attention. She frowned and stayed behind.

“I have to confess that I am more than a little disappointed that this is the first I’m hearing about any of this from you,” he said when they were finally alone.

“I know, sir. I’m sorry. I’ve had a lot on my plate,” she told him with remorse.

“It still feels like yesterday that you were upsetting your mother with the news of your engagement to Ms. Lefler. I suppose much has changed since then.”

Wesley smiled weakly and found it hard to meet the man’s gaze. She knew he was right. He was her captain and he deserved an explanation.

“How much did my mother tell you?”

“That you slipped back in time and had an affair with Lore, resulting in the creation of a new hybrid of human and synthetic life. It’s all very intriguing, however it is also quite upsetting,” he said frankly. “Now my crew and I must bend the truth to keep you and your little girl safe. I can’t even begin to fathom what someone like Maddox would want to do to your child if he knew what she was.”

“Thank you, sir. And I promise you that I’ve found a solution to resolve all of these concerns,” she told him firmly.

“You have? What might this solution be?” he wondered as he watched her intently.

“I plan to leave with Juliana Tainer. She and I were very close and she wants to help me; more importantly she would do anything for Zoe,” she explained.

“Then you plan to resign,” he said with a defeated sigh. “That is unfortunate. How will you stay safe from Lore if you leave?”

“That’s the thing...I have no reason to be afraid of him.”

“Wesley, you can’t really mean to say that you believe he has any real love for you?” Picard felt as though the wind had been knocked out of him and he had to steady himself on a nearby chair.

“He’s not the monster everyone thinks he is. Everything terrible thing he did was after that chip was put in his head. In a way we should be thanking him for his sacrifice. I can’t imagine what that chip might have done to Data.”

“I will not keep you from leaving, but I am not ready to believe that Lore is harmless,” he told her unmoved by her claims. “If we encounter him, we will do what is necessary to take him into custody.”

“Even if it means killing him?” she asked with a pained expression.

“Even if, I’m afraid,” he told her without pity.

“Good to know,” she retorted as she straightened and let out a steadying breath. “It’s been my pleasure and honour to serve you, captain. Maybe one day we can be friends again.”

“Wesley, please reconsider. If not for me, then for your mother.”

“My mother understands. She knows that this is what’s best for Zoe,” she rebutted.

“Then, I wish you good luck and safe travels,” he said softly before turning his back to her and leaving the conference room.

Wesley stood for a moment, alone in the empty room. Suddenly the life she once had felt like someone else’s life and she couldn’t wait to leave the Enterprise and start again with Juliana and Lore on Atrea IV.

......


	35. Time to Move On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little interlude before Lore makes his escape.

Lore heard the captain call the senior officers to an emergency meeting. Once the coast was clear he carefully made his way out of his hiding place and back to his brother’s quarters. He didn’t feel as though he had any other choice. He quickly entered the unlocked door and came face to face with Juliana.

“Lore?” she asked as she looked up into his bewildered face.

“Lee, was right. You did know it was me,” he said nervously as he watched his mother. He wasn’t completely convinced that she would trust him. He could see Zoe asleep on the sofa behind her and he tried to keep his voice down.

“Lore why are you here? Lee said you would stay hidden until you left with me tomorrow,” she said tersely as she looked him up and down.

“I couldn’t stay in that claustrophobic tomb any more,” he explained as he took a step closer. “Besides if the alert has gone out that I’m no longer in custody they’ll be expecting to find me hiding somewhere. Better to be in plain sight.”

“Oh Lore, that’s a terrible idea,” his mother said as she took his hand and guided him to sit down with her and Zoe. “I know you want to be with Zoe and Lee, but if you could have waited just a little longer it would be safer.”

The android couldn’t understand how casual the woman was being with him. She wasn’t afraid, or nervous. If she hadn’t looked so much older now he could have sworn they were back on Omicron Theta and it was just another day.

“Mother, I want to apologize to you. I never should have hurt Father like I did,” he told her as he looked away, his voice full of shame. “I was just so angry.”

“Why don’t you tell me what happened. I’m sure it wasn’t all your fault,” Juliana said with sympathy as she continued to hold her son’s hand.

“Father had only meant to recall Data to him. He had no idea I had been reactivated,” he explained as he kept his eyes on the floor. “He was going on about that damn emotion chip and I didn’t want Data to have it. I didn’t want him to go through the pain and grief I had all my life. You humans assume that emotional capability is a gift, but I’m not so sure it is. Data is better off. I mean, he’s even developed his own emotions now.”

“So you tricked your father to keep Data from changing?” Juliana asked to clarify.

“I felt like I owed him something, but you know father-dearest. Once he gets a notion in his head he’ll stop at nothing until his brilliance comes to fruition. So I let him put the damn thing in me. I thought it wouldn’t make a difference since I already had human emotions. Boy was I wrong,” he recounted further with regret.

“That’s when you became violent,” she said as she watched him turn to face her again.

“I didn’t mean it. I was so overwhelmed,” he told her sadly. “Father was so surprised it was me and not Data. Then he was angry. He still thought I’d done something to Lee...to Zoe.”

“He was never the same after we were forced to leave the colony. He was haunted by what could have been,” said Juliana expressing her own grief about what happened. “There’s no need to apologize to me. I was your mother and I turned my back on you. I should be begging for you to forgive me.”

Lore slowly shook his head before hugging his mother. She had always been there for him, ready to accept him even when he’d behaved less than kindly with others. Losing her confidence had been detrimental to his very being and hearing her ask for his forgiveness seemed to set things right again. He felt more like himself than he had in the the years since his world fell apart. 

Wesley entered her quarters and secured the door. She deposited a container on the workstation desk and then stood back and observed the two on the couch, a little uncertain if it was Lore, or Data embracing the older woman. Things became clearer when they parted and the android smiled brightly and then she knew it was Lore.

“Everything okay?” the ensign asked as she moved closer to them.

Lore stood and quickly caught her up in his arms. Before she could react, or say anything more, he kissed her passionately and held her close.

When he let her breath again she continued to lean into him. “You’re not supposed to be here,” she said with worry.

“I couldn’t stay away,” he whispered with emotion.

“Maddox is here,” she warned as she pressed herself to him as though needing to merge herself with him completely.

Lore closed his eyes and counted to ten in his head. He wanted to scream. He wanted to break something; like that arrogant man’s face for example. Instead he finished his internal count and waited until he calmed down again. 

Wesley also closed her eyes. She could feel the tension rise in Lore’s body at the mention of the cyberneticist’s name. She wished she could will them away to somewhere else; somewhere they wouldn’t be persecuted for wanting to live their lives in peace.

“Not the same Dr. Maddox that Data told me about?” asked Juliana with a frown. “Why is he here?”

The couple reluctantly moved apart and turned back towards Juliana. 

“He’s looking for me,” Lore told her flatly. “I humiliated him and stole his shuttle, so he’s probably not in a merciful mood.”

“Captain Picard refuses to give into his tyrannical designs to hunt you down,” Wesley told him. “The captain believes you should be back in prison not destroyed; although he did admit that if you’re found and you resist arrest, or threaten anyone the orders are to stop you by any means necessary.”

“Well, well, isn’t that interesting,” the android hummed.

“Is it? I think it’s horrendous,” Juliana quipped. “What should we do now?”

“We need to act as normally as possible,” Wesley replied with importance. “Juliana, you should retire to your quarters. Take Zoe with you as we originally planned. If she’s seen to be with you no one will think anything suspicious.”

“Look, Lee, I trust Mother as much as you do, but if Maddox comes sniffing around...”

“He won’t. Besides Deanna came to my defence and told him there was no child. So Zoe needs to be with Juliana right now and not with me,” she countered.

Lore slowly considered what she was saying and nodded. Juliana rose and gathered the sleeping girl to her. Wesley gave her daughter a gentle kiss on the forehead.

“I will guard her with my life, my dears,” she said softly, secretly hoping that nothing so drastic would be needed.

“Come back in the morning and we’ll finalize our escape,” Lore told his mother as she left.

Once they were alone Wesley went into the bedroom and pulled out a bag. Lore leaned on the door frame that separated the two rooms and observed her. He crossed his arms and smiled.

“Going somewhere?” he asked lyrically.

“I’ve decided to resign. Zoe and I are going to stay with Juliana for awhile.”

The android’s smile broadened as he continued to watch her pack. “Oh yeah? No one’s going to find that strange?”

“Both my mom and Data know of my connection to Juliana,” she explained as she moved on to collecting some of her daughter’s toys. “It’s not actually that surprising.”

“And what happens when one of your supposed friends changes their minds and tells Maddox about your miraculous daughter?”

“That’s not going to happen. No one wants anything to happen to her. Besides, so what if he finds out? It’s not like we don’t have rights. He’s not some monster who could abduct us and dissect her,” she shot back with annoyance.

“Alright but what about Juliana? I have to ask...does she know she’s an android?”

Wesley froze for a moment. Then she cursed under her breath and turned to look at Lore.

“You didn’t know?” she questioned as she searched his features.

“Nope,” he said emphatically. “Can’t deny that good old blink pattern and calculated breathing. She’s an excellent replica, but definitely not the original.”

“She doesn’t know, Lore. And you can’t tell her or she’ll shut down,” she told him firmly.

“When did she die?” he asked more seriously as he moved from the doorway and came to stand next to her.

“My mother told me that she was injured during the escape from Omicron Theta. Although she lived for a time afterwards she eventually died. Dr. Soong transferred her memories. I saw it done once, or rather saw the results when Dr. Ira Graves implanted his memories into Data. That was a trip and half.”

“Graves. Now there’s a name I haven’t heard in a very long time. What a goon. He and Maddox are cut from the same cloth I suspect,” said Lore with disgust.

“Did you know him?” Wesley asked unsure.

“No, not exactly, but Father was still in contact with him just before we came to Omicron Theta,” he explained.

“We? I thought you were created in the lab on the colony?” she asked quite confused.

“Technically my matrix existed before, it doesn’t really matter,” he said distracted before changing the subject. “Hey did you know that your mom might know that I’m here?”

“Yeah, because you had a whole conversation with her and she’s not stupid,” Wesley rebutted with a roll of her eyes.

“Okay, fine. I shouldn’t have gone galavanting around the ship like I did. I see now that maybe I was wrong to be so exposed,” he grumbled as he reluctantly agreed with her.

“No you shouldn’t have. What will we do if Data regains his memory and comes after you again?”

“After me? I’m more concerned about his attack on you. Have you ever seen him turn on someone like that before; someone he genuinely cares about?”

“No. Never. I must have really hurt him,” she said, a new wave of guilt washing over her.

“How close were the two of you exactly?” he said with a pang of jealousy.

“I thought we were in love, but maybe Data isn’t quite capable of love. Friendship and loyalty he has in spades, but his head turned quite easily when Grady became available to him again,” she explained.

“Um...that doesn’t sound all that loyal,” Lore responded with a snort of derision.

“I don’t really want to talk about it,” she said dismissively.

“Look, I’m sorry if I set you up to feel like you didn’t deserve real affection,” he said in earnest as he took her by the shoulders.

“Don’t give yourself so much credit,” she rebutted as she turned away from him. “Besides, you treating me like crap at fifteen made me choosy in my partners.”

“Sure and they both dumped you for someone else. No wonder you gave in to my advances. You were better off with the devil you already knew.”

Wesley rolled her eyes at him. She didn’t like how right he sounded. So she ignored him and tucked a few more items into her bag. They included a memory card, a small PADD and square jewelry box. Lore noted the objects but didn’t ask her about them. Then she added one last thing and he had to know what it was.

“What is that?” he asked, though from the shape and form of the container could have guessed.

“It’s a cryogenics container. My mom gave it to me along with the altered medical files I’m taking with me. There’s even one for you. Turns out Beverly Crusher likes spy games,” she informed him with a chuckle.

“So...that’s...?”

“One of the samples you had her test. She’s pretty sure it’s the same as what made Zoe, but her experience is limited and so was her time,” she explained. “Besides there’s a really good chance that it’s no longer viable.”

“Wow, so your mom gave that to you knowing that you were leaving? She is one understanding woman,” Lore stated with a touch of awe. 

He was definitely impressed that the doctor would go to such lengths for her daughter. He wondered for a moment if he should tell her to give it back since he’d already helped himself to one of the vials. Then he decided that after their talk he didn’t think that his brother would be ready for fatherhood for a while and what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

“See how you feel about her when she comes to stay with us for an extended visit; because you know that she will,” Wesley laughed.

“She can move in with us if she wants to. We could probably use the extra childcare, especially if we plan on having another kid,” he mused with a presumptuous air. “Hey, did you say that she made me a fake medical record?” he questioned as she went over to her dresser and produced an interesting looking maintenance tool.

“Yep. Your name is Errol Hahn. I thought it was rather brash of her to just reverse your first name, but she told me this long-winded story about an actor named Errol Flynn and I just went with it.”

“Yeah, you tell your mom to visit anytime. She sounds quite interesting,” he teased.

“Excuse me, but you’re with me remember?” She shot back not liking his flirtatious tone.

“Calm down, beautiful. You’ll always be my girl,” he mused as he pulled her close and claimed her mouth with his again. Then he moved away just enough to meet her eye. “We never did get to that love making.”

“Now is not the time,” she told him a frown as she tapped the tool in her hand and he wondered what exactly she might do with it.

Unfortunately, before Lore could find out, the chime went on the door. Wesley tucked the device into her bag before moving into the the doorway.

“It’s late. Who could that be?” Lore grumbled as he took on a more assertive stance.

“Maybe it’s Data. He’s respecting my space,” she said unsure that it was. “Who is it?” she asked as she approached the main door. She quickly looked behind her to find Lore ready to attack. “Stop that,” she demanded.

“It’s Grady. Is Data there?”

Wesley slapped a palm to her forehead. She was so tired of this kid and his relentless puppy love. 

“Oh please invite him in. I haven’t met him yet,” Lore said with a goofy grin and more than a little excitement in his voice.

“No. That is a terrible idea,” she scolded. “They had some sort of argument earlier.”

Lore just made a face and waved her off. “I am here Grady,” he began in his best Data tone. 

Wesley jumped to cover his mouth, but missed as he moved away from her. “You’re insane!” she cried in a stage whisper. “You’re fucking crazy!”

“Please come in,” Lore finished as he maneuvered out her reach for a second time.

The door slid open and Wesley caught herself and turned toward their visitor in a parody of looking normal. Lore, on the other hand, smirked as the young man entered. He was more than a little impressed by his brother’s choice in mate. 

“Data, I know you’re upset,” Grady began to say as he approached the imposter android. “But I think we should talk about this some more.”

“Upset?” Lore asked as he wiped the grin from his features. Then he gave a curious tilt to his head that looked a little too robotic even for Data.

“Yeah, because he’s leaving. I’ll just let the two of you talk,” Wesley told her idiot lover as she left the room. She didn’t want to be there when this blew up in his face. 

“I thought you might go to Wesley for comfort and I want you to know that I’m not mad about it,” the young man said calmly. “She’s important to you and I want you to know that I recognize that you need someone to support you.”

“That is very mature of you to say,” Lore said as he moved closer to Grady, his golden eyes fixed on his dazzling green irises. “Dear lord, you are very attractive,” he commented without thinking.

“Excuse me?” Grady asked a little unsure of why his paramour was behaving so oddly.

“That muscle tone; your tanned skin. Your hair is like an angelic halo,” he said as he continued in his admiration of the boy.

“Data, stop it, this is what I was talking about. I’m not some aesthetically pleasing Adonis for you to do with as you please. I’m a person...Besides, Wesley is right in the next room.” Grady’s words sounded like a deterrent, but his tone was soft and welcoming.

Lore gave into self-indulgence and let his hands connect with the youth’s sculpted chest. Then he let them wander over his broad shoulders.

Wesley’s curiosity got the better of her when she found they had gone quiet. She peeked back out into the living area to find her so-called husband copping a shameless feel. She finally reacted when it looked as though Grady was leaning in for a kiss.

“What the hell are you doing!?” she cried with alarm.

Grady jumped back, startled.

“He’s so pretty. Can we keep him?” Lore purred unfazed by her outburst.

Grady on the other hand was bright red and awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. “Sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

“He’s a person, not a pet,” Wesley said to Lore with offence. 

“I have to go home...I mean back to Earth. Not this second, but soon,” the young man stumbled, his words full of nerves as he tried to explain himself to Wesley. “Maybe this was a bad idea,” he added after regaining some of his composure.

“Maybe it was,” Wesley told him with a sympathetic frown. “Why don’t you go back to your quarters.”

“I think I will. Sorry Data. I’m sure I’m just confusing you,” he said a little ashamed. “I should know by now that I can’t keep my hands off of you when we’re together.”

“Hey, come on don’t go,” Lore called as the door closed behind Grady as he left. “Maybe we could have good time together—all three of us?”

Wesley shot him a horrified look and hit him in the arm. “Let’s just hope he didn’t hear you.” She muttered something else under her breath as she quickly secured the door again.

“Oh man. I don’t usually care for men, but that boy was something else all together,” Lore commented crassly as he bit his lower lip. “Did you look remotely like that, you know, before you looked like this?”

“What?” Wesley shot back, still offended by his display of unapologetic lust. “No I did not.”

“Hmm, show me,” he said with interest as he turned towards her.

“Excuse me? Show you what? You’ve seen me,” she said unwilling to play his sick game.

“I saw you at fifteen. I want to know what you looked like before you changed into this,” he said insistently.

She groaned with frustration. Clearly he wasn’t going to let it go. She walked over to the workstation and brought up some images that Robin had taken on their last shore leave together. 

Lore peered over her shoulder and tapped through the pictures. She watched his face and noted how he became less and less excited with each one. By the fifth or sixth image he was scowling.

“Why did you show me these pictures?” he said with a touch of anger.

“Um, you said you wanted to see what I looked like,” she told him. She wasn’t sure why he was so disgruntled and thought maybe he thought her male self was ugly.

“Yeah, but...that’s just...why those?” he struggled to say.

“Lore, what is it?”

“You’re in love with that woman. I can see it in every image. Do you know how that makes me feel?” he told her, his voice pained.

“Lore...Robin broke my heart. I don’t really like looking at these pictures either. They were just the best ones to show you how I looked.”

“Fine. I guess I understand,” he said with a little less attitude. “You’re right. You didn’t look like like ‘Romeo’.”

“I know,” she said as she stood and came close to him again. “I was the guy version of that skinny girl you met,” she added playfully.

“You never did explained to me why you’re a woman now,” he said with concern as he took her hand.

Wesley pulled away and shook her head. “We’re not discussing that right now. It’s not important and it will only confuse and upset you. Hell, it’ll upset me, so just drop it.”

“Fine. Consider it dropped, but I expect you to tell me one day,” he said warmly as he reclaimed her hand and kissed the back of it.

“Some day I will, but right now all I really want is to go to bed with you,” she said quietly as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Like to sleep?” he questioned unsure of how she was feeling about their relationship now that he’d blatantly drooled over someone else right in front of her.

Wesley gave his butt a little squeeze to indicate her answer. “Come to bed with me.”

“It would be my pleasure,” he purred as he scooped her up in his arms and carried her into the other room. 

He shut the door and tossed her onto the bed. She laughed as she bounced on the mattress. She began to undress as soon as she was able. Lore followed her example and let his stolen uniform fall to the floor. He was equal parts aroused and relieved to have her back in his arms; naked and wanting him. Even though they were in his brother’s bed he couldn’t imagine being happier.

.....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to gush a little and thank everyone again for reading. I know this is a long one and **spoilers** there will be more. So thank you:)


	36. Show and Tell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A late night conversation.

Wesley was finding it difficult to sleep. Although things would be better once they made their escape, she was still full of anxiety. She lay in bed staring at the ceiling with Lore lying next to her. It was difficult for her to reconcile how very much the same he was now that they were together again. She wondered if he could sense that she was awake since he’d been so unusually quiet. She dared to look over at him and was surprised to find that his eyes were closed.

She propped herself up on an elbow and watched him with curiosity. For all intents and purposes he was asleep. She’d never witnessed him sleeping before and had no idea that he could. She thought maybe he was just thinking and computing with his eyes closed, but then he did something she hadn’t been expecting. Lore took an abrupt inhale and snored.

Wesley laughed and covered her mouth as she observed him. When he continued to lightly snore she decided that she would never get any sleep if he kept it up. So she nudged him gently. When that didn’t work she shook his shoulder a little harder.

“Lore, wake up,” she prodded. “Lore.”

The synthetic man opened his eyes and stared at her. “What’s wrong?” he asked a little disoriented.

“You were sleeping,” she mused as she let her hand rest on his bare shoulder.

“Oh right, I do that sometimes. I discovered I could several years ago and do it from to time. Especially when I was locked up and there was literally nothing better to do with my time,” he explained.

“There’s more,” she said nervously as she worried her lower lip. “You snore.”

Lore mirrored her posture and leaned his chin in his hand as he propped himself up on the pillow by his elbow. “I do not.”

“You do,” she assured him.

“Liar,” he said with indignation.

“I can record you the next time you do it if you want me to prove it,” she teased.

“No,” he rebutted with less resolve. “No, maybe I believe you.” 

Wesley leaned over a little and played with hair at his temples. “I was thinking when we leave the Enterprise we should change your appearance,” she said thoughtfully. “What do you think about adding a little distinguished grey to your temples.”

“So you can look like my daughter instead of my wife? No thank you,” he snarked, offended.

“I’m not that young,” she told him defensively. 

“You’re twenty-five...maybe. For all intents and purposes you’re still technically twenty-two,” he countered.

“How old are you?” she asked intently as she narrowed her eyes at him in the dim light of the room.

“Physically? If you consider my age by calendar years since my activation and disregard the years I was inactive...” he said with some consideration “I’m roughly as old as you are.”

“You’re saying that you’ve only been active for roughly twenty-five years?” she questioned uncertain that could be correct.

“No, I meant twenty-two; so that makes me younger than you,” he said with a cheeky grin.

“That makes no sense. If I was fifteen when we met eight years ago, saying that I tag on my three years with you. That would mean you were eleven when we met?” she said said slightly horrified.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. I had been a fully functional android for eleven years,” he told her.

“Ew. I feel so dirty,” she said with obvious revulsion in her voice.

“Oh come on. It’s not like I was a human eleven year old,” Lore said with conviction. 

“Lore, that’s sick,” Wesley said as she sat up and moved away from him a little. “I had sex with an adolescent...a child. When your father told me that you were the equivalent of a boy discovering that girls were pretty and didn’t have cooties I thought he was being metaphorical, not literal.”

“He was being metaphorical,” Lore shot back to reassure her. “Wait, did my father actually say that to you?”

“I think I’m going to vomit,” she said dramatically as she move away from him some more.

“Lee, calm down. I had the mind and body of a fully grown man,” he told her, desperate to get her to drop it. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Marni Ferris on the other hand...”

“I guess she’s dead now,” Wesley noted with sadness as she considered the woman must have perished with the colony.

“Okay, wow. Can we please go back to teasing me about my snoring?” the android pleaded with dismay.

“Sure,” she said unconvincingly as she lay back down, her nausea forgotten. “You’d think Dr. Soong would have given you perfect sinuses; but if you weren’t made to need sleep perhaps he didn’t consider whether or not you would snore.”

“I didn’t mean that we literally had to talk about my snoring. I just meant that we should talk about anything else but dead people and underaged sexual encounters,” he informed her frankly.

“Oh...right,” she commented passively as she snuggled up to his chest. 

“Is it just me, or do you want to go get Zoe too?” he asked, feeling the absence of their daughter.

“It’s literally taking everything in me right now not to run out and snatch her back from Juliana,” Wesley confessed grimly.

“Good. Not just me,” he sighed and then kissed her forehead.

“Eleven,” she mumbled.

“It doesn’t matter,” he grumbled.

“Data was active for at least thirty-four years when we got together,” she said offhandedly. “And that was after his second activation.”

“Oh good, now you’re going to talk about sex with my brother, what more could a man ask for?” he muttered sardonically.

“Sorry,” she apologized realizing that it was a very inappropriate subject. “I love you.”

“Me too, Lee. Now get some sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be a doozy.”

She leaned up and kissed him properly before resuming her comfortable position on his chest. “Once we’re free and clear maybe we can discuss adding to our little family,” she murmured quietly.

“I thought we already had,” he boldly added as he let his eyes close. “If you didn’t want to you wouldn’t be taking that canister.”

“Having it is one thing, but using it is a big deal,” she rebutted.

“As long as we get to pretend that I’m like any other man in the meantime and have lots of sex,” he said only half-joking.

“Lore, you are far from being like any other man,” she teased affectionately.

......

Dr. Maddox was hovering over Lt Comdr Data’s shoulder at the science station on the Bridge. They were into their second hour of reviewing sensor readings from the past three days. Their biggest obstacle was that all of the readings from the asteroid field were misleading. The asteroids themselves were made of minerals and alloys that reflected and bounced the sensors. So they were constantly seeing shadows and repeating patterns of misleading information that didn’t quite give them anything to work with.

“Wait, there,” Maddox declared as he gripped the back of Data’s chair firmly.

“That is another shadow,” Data informed him with raised brows. He was beginning to regret volunteering to review their readings with the scientist in the first place.

“No, not that one,” he said tersely. “That one. That’s a proper ping. That’s a small craft,” he said with a pompous air.

Data looked at the reading again and frowned. “It is not as you said, a proper ping. It is however the reflection of one,” the android explained with interest.

“What does that mean?”

“It means that the shuttle was somewhere opposite to this reading and we very nearly missed detecting it all,” he informed Maddox.

“Shuttle? Are you certain?” The man was wired with tension and too much caffeine.

“I am fairly certain,” Data told him as he shot him a wary look over his shoulder. “I will review more of the readings from when we passed by that area of the field to see if there are any more anomalous pings.”

“You should also check your internal sensors for evidence of a transporter signature. Perhaps around the time that Enterprise passed that region and your shields were damaged,” Maddox suggested smugly, as though Data didn’t know how to do his job.

“I was just about to do that,” the android said with indifference.

“Well, well...looks like maybe you were all wrong about Lore after all,” the cyberneticist said in an irritating sing-song manner. 

“We do not know for certain that this craft is new to the area. In fact we should double back and check it for life-signs. I do not understand how we missed it before.”

“You missed it because that psychotic genius wanted you to miss it,” Maddox told him. “Lore should never be underestimated, though he is quite the fool to come straight back to you the moment he escaped from prison.”

Data gave the man another dubious look. He was fairly certain that it wasn’t him that his brother came for. In fact he was having the oddest feeling of déjà vu, as though he had suspected Lore was on the Enterprise already once before.

“We will endeavour to confirm our suspicions with facts before we go to the captain,” the android said firmly.

“Of course, of course,” Maddox said in agreement, but he was already planning ahead to what he would do when he caught the monster.

......

In the morning, both Wesley and Lore dressed in civilian clothing. Lore borrowed another of his brother’s seldom used outfits and then eagerly watched as his lover got dressed. He lay on the unmade bed on his stomach like a girl at sleepover party, leaning on his elbows and kicking his feet in the air.

Wesley laughed at his parody of girlish glee as she snapped a bra strap just for him. Then, when she was fully clothed, she pulled out the instrument that she’d dropped into her bag the night before. Lore sat more upright when he caught sight of the thing. He wasn’t sure he was going to like whatever it was.

“So what does that thing do?” he asked warily.

The woman played with the settings of the device and grinned to herself. “You really want to know?”

“Maybe not. You seem particularly devious right now,” he said as he shifted nervously on the bed.

“I’m sorry, but are you saying that you’re afraid of little old me? The same person whose life you threatened yesterday when it looked like I was going to stop you from stealing our daughter?”

“I was never going to kill you,” he said insistently with hurt in his eyes. “Maim you maybe.”

“Lore, give me your hand,” she instructed harshly as she held out her own and waited for him to comply.

“Be nice, Lee,” he grumbled in turn as he reluctantly did as she asked.

She grinned again and touched the device to his synthetic skin. It tickled a little, but he frowned when nothing happened. “I don’t think it did what you were hoping.”

“Give it a second,” she huffed. “This will help disguise you when we make our escape.”

They both watched his hand. Suddenly it started shifting in pigment and turned flesh toned. Lore quickly pulled up at his sleeve cuff to see if it was spreading further over his body. 

“How did you do that?” he questioned with a touch of awe in his voice.

“It’s something I came up with a while back,” she confessed. Then she fiddled with it again and passed it to him. “Shine it into each of your eyes, but just for a second.”

Once again he did as she instructed, but felt a little concerned that his partner had created the device with his brother in mind and not him. He tried not to blink as he shone the light at his irises.

“Now what?” he grumbled a little less than pleased.

“You don’t sound super impressed. Maybe I should reverse it before you see the results,” she rambled, unsure that he was going to like his new reflection.

Lore sighed dramatically and went into the restroom to look into the mirror. Wesley waited by the bed, but became concerned when the android didn’t return right away.

She walked in the adjacent space and found him leaning on the sink in front of the vanity, staring into the drain.

“Why would you do this to me?” he said with equal parts hurt and confusion. “I look just like my father.”

“I’m sorry. I guess I wasn’t thinking,” she said with empathy as she wrapped her arms around him from behind.

She couldn’t deny the similarities when he turned to look at her. For some strange reason Lore really did look more like Dr. Soong than Data had. Maybe it was the more prominent creases in his face from years of emoting; laugh lines and crows feet that Data lacked.

“I’ll change you back. Please don’t be upset,” she told him lovingly and gave him a kiss.

“I still can’t believe he’s gone. I know I was the one who caused his death, but it didn’t feel real at the time,” he explained with sadness.

“I know. I’m sure he forgave you and knew you weren’t in control of yourself,” she reassured him. Lore wasn’t so convinced, but chose to believe her. It was easier than dwelling on something he could never atone for.

“Change me back, Lee. We can decide later if I need to look human. Right now it’s probably better if I still look like my brother.”

Wesley nodded and brought him back to the bedroom. They went through the same steps only backwards this time and soon he was back to his normal complexion and eye colour. Then she tucked the tool into her bag.

The chime went on the door just as they finished. They had both been expecting Juliana to return, but there was always a chance that he would be discovered. Lore leaned down and gave Wesley another heartfelt kiss. He was beginning to feel as though each kiss could be their last and he wasn’t ready to let her go.

“Who is it?” Wesley called when they parted. Lore continued to hold her gaze as they waited to hear the answer.

“It is Data, Wesley. Please open the door,” the other android requested flatly.

“Under the bed, or in the shower?” Lore asked quickly.

She didn’t get a chance to answer. Data decided to let himself in and he stalked into the living quarters with a phaser at the ready. “Stand down, Lore. You are caught.”

“Aw, you’re so cute with your commanding tone and scary phaser,” Lore teased, trying to throw his brother off his guard.

“I advise you to stop talking,” Data said without humour. “You as well, Wesley. You are both under arrest and anything you say, or do could be used against you. Lt. Worf is on his way with a security team, however I thought it best that I enter ahead of them and hold you. I would not want you to attempt something reckless.”

Lore used his android speed to grab Wesley and hold her in front of him like a human shield. He had one hand tight on her throat while the other wrenched her left arm behind her back. “Like this, dear brother?” he snarked as he tighten the hand at the woman’s throat causing her to choke.

“And you believed that he loved you,” said Data to his ex-lover, voice full of pity.

Wesley rolled her eyes at two brothers. She knew that Lore was only reacting to being cornered. She was fairly certain he would never actually hurt her; at least that’s what she believed.

“Put the phaser down and kick it over here, or I’ll break the woman’s neck,” Lore growled without mercy.

“No, I will not. I cannot let you go free again, Lore. Wesley should have known better than to trust you,” he said unsympathetically.

She wasn’t sure if Data was just calling his brother’s bluff, or if he was so done with her that he didn’t care what happened to her anymore. Either way she wasn’t sure that she liked her odds.

“Fine,” Lore shouted as he very violently shoved his beloved at the other android. “Catch!”

Wesley barrelled into Data, throwing him a little off balance. He didn’t drop the phaser from his hand, but Lore managed to produce a phaser of his own. It was the one that Data kept locked under his workstation. Lore had found when he went snooping around.

Data pushed Wesley behind him and took aim. “I am giving you one last warning, Lore. Surrender or I will fire.”

“Data stop. Don’t hurt him,” Wesley pleaded as she tried to take his arm and distract him.

“You don’t have the balls, brother,” Lore taunted as he too looked ready to fire his weapon as well.

Data decided to teach Lore a lesson and, as Wesley went to grab at his arm again, he pulled her in front of him and propelled her into the other android. Lore’s face twisted into a horrified expression of hurt. He couldn’t stop himself from catching Wesley as she came towards him. As he turned to the side to shield her, Data fired on him and Lore fell to the floor, taking the woman with him.

Wesley took a moment to recovered from her assault of being tossed back and forth by the two androids. She crouched by Lore’s side and smoothed back his hair to check if he was alright.

“Data what setting did you use?” she asked with desperation. 

The Second Office stood in stunned silence as he watched his former lover fall apart over his criminal brother. 

“Data answer me, damn it!” she demanded.

“It was on maximum stun,” he told her numbly. “He tried to kill you.” 

She didn’t address him again, but picked up the other phaser and handed it to him. Data took the weapon and looked at the setting. It was locked on standard stun. It would have barely had any effect if he had chosen to fire.

“I do not understand,” he muttered as he crouched down to her level. “I thought he would have wanted to kill me.”

“Why Data? You’re his brother. He loves you,” she said tearfully as she held Lore’s head in her lap.

Data could never have been as sure as she was about what Lore felt, or what his true motivations were. Something about witnesses their shared devotion made him lose the last of his respect for her; their years of friendship suddenly devoid of meaning.

“Stand up,” he commanded coldly as he straighten again. “I must take you into custody for harbouring a fugitive.”

Wesley glared at him. “Fine. Do whatever you like,” she snapped as she carefully lay the synthetic man’s head on the floor. Then she stood and walked to the door. 

Worf and his team arrived just as Data took hold of the disgraced ensign’s arm. 

“You may wish to transport Lore into a cell in the Brig. He is unconscious and quite heavy for your officers to move,” Data instructed plainly.

Worf nodded as he scowled at Wesley. “I hope he was worth it. There is no honour in aiding murderous criminals,” the Klingon quipped.

“He is not a murderer,” she grumbled, though doubted that he would care what she thought.

.......


	37. The Postman Always Rings Twice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wesley and Lore are in some serious trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for sexual assault and overall mistreatment of an android.

Lore awoke to find himself lying on the floor of a brightly lit cell. For a moment he was confused and thought he was back on Jaros II. Then it all came rushing back to him. He groaned as he sat up.

“Fuck me,” he cursed loudly as he held his throbbing head in his hands.

“Lore?” 

The android stilled and wasn’t sure if he had actually heard someone say his name, or not. This was upsetting since, as an android, he should always be able to tell whether or not a sound was real. He concluded that he must have sustained damage when Data fired on him.

“Lore, are you awake?” This time there was no mistaking it. Wesley was calling to him from somewhere close by.

“Lee? Where are you?” he called in response.

“In the next cell,” she muttered, a little ashamed of herself.

“Seriously? They arrested you? I thought these people were your friends?” Lore lamented followed by another pained grunt as he lifted himself to sit on the bench.

“Are you okay?” she asked, ignoring his comment. “You don’t sound so good.”

“I seem to be in pain, which is unusual,” he said with concern. “But on the plus side it means I’m still functioning.”

“I thought maybe Data had killed you; I was so scared,” she told him openly.

“You must really love me,” he said ruefully as he shook his head to himself. “I used you to try and get away.”

“Because you believed Data wouldn’t hurt me,” she said with understanding.

“I guess we were both wrong about that. I couldn’t believe the cruel look in his eyes when he threw you at me.”

“I’ve never been a human ping pong ball before and I hope I never am again,” she whined as massaged her shoulder.

“You and me both,” he uttered in agreement. Then he looked around again. “We’re not on the Enterprise anymore, are we?” he asked with obvious concern as he paid closer attention to his surroundings. The room was small and held maybe three cells all together. 

“Nope. Prison transport. You were out for awhile,” she told him.

“Hmm, I couldn’t have been out that long. Your family let you get shipped off without a trial?”

“No trial yet. Just going into holding until I can appear before Starfleet Command.” It wasn’t her idea of time well spent and she really hated that she couldn’t be with Zoe after so adamantly declaring that she didn’t have a daughter. It was probably safer not to have her with her, anyhow.

It seemed that Lore was having similar thoughts. “What about Zoe?” he asked a little panicked.

“My mom has her. Before you ask, Juliana should be on her way home by now. Man, was she ever angry,” Wesley informed him with another sigh of frustration.

“My mom, or yours?”

“Let’s just say if we ever get out of this in one piece neither one will be talking to either of us anytime soon,” she grumbled.

“Figures,” he huffed in response. “Moms are all loving and supportive until you get charged with criminal offences.”

“Lore.”

She would have scolded him more, but the main door opened and three men entered the small room. They both recognized Dr. Maddox, but only Lore knew Mr. Fender. The third man was new to both of them. 

“Oh good. The android is awake and functional,” mused Maddox coldly. “You remember Mr. Fender, don’t you?” The cyberneticist seemed to only be addressing Lore, ignoring Wesley for the time being. 

“How could I forget a mug that ugly,” Lore shot back unamused.

Fender didn’t react. Instead he stood his ground with his weapon and chose to leer at Wesley in the cell next to the android. Lore stood and approached the limits of his force field, causing it to spark.

“Hey, eyes over here you big, dumb goon!” he spat.

Wesley gave the large man the finger before turning away from him.

“That’s one classy lady you’ve chosen as your bride. I can see why she so relentless defends you. She’s just as amoral and defective as you are,” Maddox rambled with interest as he observed the two prisoners.

“What about the other guy? What ingenious name does he have?” Lore quipped in an effort to distract himself from the actual peril they might be in.

“This is Mr. Kay. He’s here to make sure you don’t try anything,” Maddox replied smugly.

“Hear that Fender?” the android found himself asking unable to resist. “Sounds like you need a babysitter.”

The large man sneered and took half a step forward before Maddox held a hand in front of him to stop him.

“Lore, just shut up. You heard what Data said. We should stay quiet,” Wesley warned from her cell. The last thing she needed was another murder on their hands.

“Your little woman is right. Although, more for herself than for you...” Maddox told him with a glint in his eye. “You see we’ve made a small detour before she gets sent off to detention; Starfleet has authorized me to make a few small adjustments to your programming to assist in your rehabilitation before I return you to Jaros II.”

“What kind of adjustments?” Lore questioned as he narrowed his eyes at the man.

“You don’t appear to be very willing to comply with authority figures. That won’t do if we ever hope to reintroduce you into civilized society. Don’t worry; I’ll just shave off a few sharp edges from that dangerous personality of yours.”

“You can’t do that, Maddox. You’ve never even come close to examining a Soong-type matrix. You could lobotomize him!” cried Wesley with distress.

“Well, one android’s lobotomy is another man’s peace of mind,” he smirked.

“He won’t do it, Lee. He’s too cowardly to try. Starfleet will laugh him out of Daystrom if he messes me up,” Lore said with self-assurance. 

Of course he was terrified. Whether the man was successful or not, he knew that his father had instituted a fail-safe in all of his androids to have them permanently shutdown if anyone ever tried to overwrite their programming. Dr. Soong was no fool and knew there would be people that would want to turn them into slaves, or worse—killing machines.

“Oh, I don’t work at the Daystrom Institute anymore, Lore. I’ve got my own cybernetics lab now and I can do whatever I want,” Maddox informed him. “The first thing that I want to do is dig around in those vast memory banks of yours and discover all of your creator’s little secrets. All the things you may have observed, read, or witnessed that would add to my own research.”

“Starfleet will hang you for treason if they think you might be trying to raise your own little android army,” Lore growled.

“Oh, please. I don’t need an army of soldiers. We just need a few test androids to do the things that no human ever wants to do. Like mining dilithium, or manning away teams in high risk situations.”

“You’re talking about disposable slaves,” said Wesley, not that she was surprised in the least that he would imply such a thing.

“Whatever you want to call them, that’s what we’re trying to achieve. If I can write a successful protocol to tame a wild free-thinker like Lore, then I’m already ahead of the game.”

“You can’t do this. It won’t work,” Lore said as he tried to warned him. 

“I believe it will. Now say goodbye to your ‘wife’ and turn to face the back wall,” Maddox instructed just as arrogantly.

“I love you, Lee,” Lore said with resignation.

Wesley was sure that Lore was planning something. She just had no idea what yet. “I love you too. We’ll be back together before you know it. There’s no way that Data isn’t tracking this transport to ensure your arrival on Jaros II.”

“Oh, poor little thing. Don’t you understand? Starfleet gave me the green light because Data gave his permission for me to proceed,” Maddox explained with a pompous grin.

“He’s lying, Lee. Data would never agree to such a terrible thing no matter what he thinks about me,” Lore shouted with indignation.

“Face the wall, Droid,” said Mr. Fender gruffly.

“I know he’s lying,” Wesley said as she tried not to feel hopeless. ”And I know he’ll regret his decision to harm you.”

The force field was dropped on Lore’s cell while Fender and Kay both held phaser riffles to the back of the android’s head. Maddox smirked unseen behind him. Then he gingerly reached his hand to slip into the hidden panel in Lore’s back.

“Hey, buy a guy a drink first,” the android quipped before going limp and collapsing to the floor.

Maddox had secretly been wanting to flip Data’s switch since Comdr Riker made him aware of it all those years ago. It gave him a sort of perverse pleasure be able to switch Lore into standby.

“Take him to the lab. Then tell the pilot to hold here until I’m sure I don’t need the girl for leverage,” Maddox said to Mr. Kay. The man gave the cyberneticist a nod.

The two large men each took one of Lore’s arms and dragged him from the room. The sound of the android hitting the floor was terrifying enough, but Wesley was almost in hysterics as she watched them haul him away.

“Don’t fret my dear woman, if I can fix him they might drop the charges against you. After all if he’s no longer a threat you did nothing wrong,” the thin man mused.

Wesley came close to the edge of the field. “You’ve made a pretty grave mistake letting me witness all of that. What’s to stop me from reporting you?”

“Well, your daughter for one,” he told her without missing a beat. “I’m not an idiot. If you and Lore are actually involved somehow, then that little girl being guarded by Doctor Crusher and Captain Picard is more than she seems. Mark my words, Lee; you breath a word of any of this and she’ll be next to visit my lab.”

She wanted to be sure that he was actually saying what she believed he was saying. So she took a half step closer, causing the energy in the field to threaten to push her back again. “Are you threatening the safety and wellbeing of my daughter?”

He smirked and tilted his head back so that he could look down his nose at her. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“I understand,” she said without feeling.

“Good,” he said a little less sure of his threat than when he started. “I’m glad we understand one another.”

Then Maddox backed out of the room, leaving her alone with her thoughts. She’d been analyzing her best chance of escape for hours while she’d waited for Lore to regain consciousness. She knew that standard holding cells would have forcefields that encompassed the entire cell all the way to the ceiling. She just had to figure out if there was a weak point. Good thing she was the glitch and fix-it technician. Weak spots were her specialty. 

.....

As Lore regained awareness of his surroundings, he came to realize that he was strapped down to some sort of table. He couldn’t move; not just from the restraints, but his internal systems were telling him that he was in a ‘test’ mode. It must have been a hangover from his early beginnings. He was certain it was nothing he ever recalled his father using once he was in full control of his android body.

His eyes darted around the bright sterile room. That was when he noticed he was nude. He could also feel that there was a cable connecting into the side of his head. Then he spotted Dr. Maddox at a computer console. The android suspected that he didn’t have much longer to find his way out of this mess.

“Good, you’re conscious,” said the dark haired man as he wheeled his chair over to the slab. “I have very important plans for you,” he added with importance as he picked up a hypospray and checked it.

Lore tried to quip back at him, but couldn’t. His mouth was restricted and held closed. All he could do was glare at Maddox. 

“You know, Daystrom seemed like a good fit for me at first, but it was very regulated and limited. In many ways I admire your creator, Dr. Soong, for breaking ties and setting out on his own. Now that I’ve got my own lab I don’t have to bend to bureaucracy and waste time with red tape.”

The android didn’t care for his elaborate tales to justify his actions. He just wanted to get away from him and get back to his family. He prayed that his sins against his brother hadn’t fallen to Wesley as well and she would be sent on her way just as the scientist said she would. 

“This might pinch a little,” Maddox said smugly as he injected some sort of fluid into Lore’s neck. It was a good thing that the android was gagged for good measure or else he would have tried to bite the man’s ear off he was leaning so close to him.

Dr. Maddox grinned as if reading his mind and felt another wave of pleasure from the control he now had over the android. “Don’t worry,” he continued, “this will hurt you more than it will me.”

Lore frantically tried to run every diagnostic in his body to try to discern what the madman had injected him with, however he was left at a loss. Being stuck in test mode meant he had very little influence over what was happening to him. He did his best to remain calm, but began to panic as every tactile sensor in his synthetic dermis lit up. He didn’t feel painful exactly, but he certainly didn’t feel pleasurably either.

“Ah, I see you’re starting to feel the effects now,” the slim man said with interest. He leaned over and blew on the android’s bare chest causing simulated goosebumps to form on his skin. “Good.”

Lore didn’t know why Maddox wanted to test his tactile sensors and he didn’t care. Never being one for awkward silences he tried his best to speak somehow and demand to know what the hell was going on. But his plea sounded like a muffled series of unintelligible grunts.

“What’s that, Lore? You say you don’t like being treated like a piece of equipment? Did you ask Mr. LaForge how he felt about it when you had Data drill into his skull?” he asked without feeling.

The android’s eyes widened in fear before he shut them tight against the reality of what the man was implying.

“It’s amazing to me how much Dr. Soong destroyed in his original lab. There was barely any evidence left of any of his research,” Maddox began again. “Little did I know at the time that he had taken his research with him. Too bad you murdered the man in cold blood before he could destroy his notes a second time.”

The cyberneticist could tell that his subject was struggling to cope with his new situation. He had trapped the android in his head, unable to break free from his restraints; unable to try and defend himself from what would come next.

“That little girl is a marvel,” he added as he picked up a very long, sharp looking tool. “How did Soong create such a wonderful hybrid of human and synthetic DNA? By her age and stage of development I would say that she came into existence after the poor man’s demise. Which can only mean one thing...you know where she came from. In fact, as insane as it might sound, maybe you are her father.”

Lore was afraid that Maddox had Zoe even though he hadn’t said as much before. He couldn’t explain how else he would suddenly know so much about her. He tried to yell at him, but still sounded the same. No matter how loud he managed to get all he made was muffled noise.

The mad scientist shushed him with a finger to his thin lips. Then he unapologetically used his scalpel to slice into the android’s lower abdomen. The sensation caused his body to twitch, but otherwise remain still. Meanwhile, Lore’s brain was on fire as his receptors reported the violation and he whimpered at the onslaught of information.

“I won’t cause you any irreparable harm. I simply have some time to kill while I’m copying some of your early memory files and I thought I would get a better look inside to see where Soong might have let you store such a strange substance that would gift you the ability to creative life.”

There was Lore’s answer. Maddox had already been poking around in his brain. He had no concept of how long he had been unconscious this time. Maybe the lunatic didn’t have his daughter after all.

Maddox finished making his incisions and removed a layer synthetic muscle along with the dermal layer. Lore likened the experience to that of sleep paralysis, or maybe what a human patient might feel like if they were awake during surgery while numbed to gills. Only his brain knew he’d been cut open even if his body didn’t. 

He just thanked his lucky stars that Wesley had stowed away the newer sample of synthetic procreation DNA and he that didn’t have any in him. The sample he stole was also secretly stowed in the last place he hoped that they would look. That’s all he needed was for someone like Maddox to replicate that part of his father’s work.

Lore stared at the ceiling again as he came to terms with being unable to fight back. Then the all too ambitious scientist gave his reproductive organ a stroke to make sure everything was in working order. When he did it again, Lore could feel himself gag. He wondered if he would actually vomit. He never had before and with his body switched over and out of his control he wondered if he could.

Maddox did it again and frowned. “Don’t you have a sexuality program? Shouldn’t something happen when you become stimulated?” he asked with a hint of frustration. He knew that Data had one and believed that his brother must as well. He didn’t know about the emotional incentive part of Lore’s program and what he was doing was literally making him ill.

Now the man was watching Lore’s face to see if he would give him any indication of why nothing was happening. So when Maddox moved again and very roughly stroked several times he was surprised to witness the android violently choke.

The cyberneticist slowly began to realize that Lore wasn’t putting on an act for attention. He could see fluid trying to escape under the restraint that was holding his mouth shut. He quickly released the strap holding his jaw closed and then the one restricting his head. Lore turned his head expelled a bile-like fluid onto the table.

“I don’t understand,” Maddox said a little shaken.

“If you tried some polite conversation before you molested me then maybe you would know that anything sexual beyond the expression of affection makes me ill,” he ranted with obvious distress.

“You’re joking?” he questioned in disbelief.

“Do I look like I’m joking?” Lore whimpered. He could feel another wave of nausea rising at the thought of being violated again.

“So you’ve never sexually assaulted anyone?” Maddox asked just as unconvinced as he made an effort to clean away the mess from the table next to Lore’s head.

“No...of course not, I couldn’t,” he said defensively.

“What about what Troi said?”

“I never touched Troi,” Lore shot back, offended.

“I didn’t think you had,” Maddox noted as he wiped the android’s face. “The boy; she said you assaulted Wesley as a teenager.”

Lore winced and closed his eyes again. He wasn’t exactly sure why Maddox knew that horrible piece of information, but he really hated talking about it. 

“I believed that Wesley was someone else when I was with him. I had convinced myself that I had genuine feelings for him at the time,” he grumbled.

“And when he begged you to stop? Did you still believe he loved you?” Maddox rebutted with distain.

“He didn’t beg me to stop...it doesn’t matter now. You weren’t there,” Lore snapped in anger.

“Where did you get the synthetic matter to make the girl?” the man asked as he sat back and observed his subject. 

Lore could see him hit a call button out of the corner of his eye. He wasn’t looking forward to Maddox’s goons seeing him in his current state.

“From my father, just like you said,” the android confessed reluctantly, however he left out the part about it being decades in the past and not when he had encountered him as a frail old man and stolen the emotions chip.

“Is there more somewhere?” he pressed.

“No. There isn’t. It was one of his seat-of-his-pants ideas that actually worked.”

“Did you have traditional intercourse with the child’s mother?”

“Why do you care, you sick fuck!?” Lore blurted, losing his patience.

“I was only asking for scientific curiosity’s sake,” he said offhandedly.

Then Lore could hear a door slide open behind him somewhere.

“What happened, Bruce? Looks like it got sick on itself,” came an oddly familiar female voice from off to his side. Lore couldn’t see the woman, but his brain was warning him that she was not on his side.

“Apparently he becomes physically repulsed by anything remotely sexually deviant,” Maddox explained with a frown. “Maybe Soong was afraid of unleashing a rapist on the colonists.”

“That’s very interesting. Remember what I told you about the time I had examined it. It just stared at me like a lost, confused child. I couldn’t even cause it’s organ to become erect,” the woman added.

Lore squeezed his eyes tight again. He recognized the voice. If not her voice, her story was enough to confirm her identity. He found it a little ironic that he and Wesley had just been talking about Dr. Ferris and how they thought she had perished on Omicron Theta. 

“Hello, android,” Ferris said as she came around to where he could now see her. He slowly opened his eyes to see that the nightmare was real. She was much older, but still just as beautiful and blond. “I hope Bruce has been explaining things as he progresses. I know an intelligent mind such as yours would be more at ease that way.”

He almost believed that she was being kind, but he knew she was just putting on some fake bedside manner for him.

“Did you find anything?” she asked Maddox as she had her own little poke around in the exposed cavity just above his groin.

“Nothing, sadly. Lore claims there isn’t anything to find,” the scientist informed her. “I’ve almost retrieved all the information I want. Then I’ll initiate the new protocols to overwrite his preexisting ones.”

“You shouldn’t do that,” Lore said, finally making a plea for his life. “Dr. Soong created a fail-safe. The moment you try to alter or overwrite anything original I’ll shut down. My positronic brain will go into cascade failure and I’ll be completely useless.”

“Oh please. Why should I believe you?” Maddox scoffed. “Why is this the first time you’ve mentioned such a thing? No, you’re grasping at straws.”

“It’s a liar, Bruce. Don’t give into it. You’ve come too far to anthropomorphize it now. It only looks like a man,” Ferris reminded him.

“You’re like a damned broken record, Marni. I am a man, just a synthetic one!” Lore snapped in anger.

Dr. Ferris looked unimpressed. She picked up the straps that had held his mouth shut and quickly re-applied them before he could retaliate any further. Then she secured his neck and head again.

“Poor thing. I still don’t know why Dr. Soong and his wife would have wanted to give it such strong notions of self-worth,” she said with a dismissive air.

“It did seem that Soong was deeply delusional and treated his work as though they were his family,” Maddox noted as he returned to his console.

“Bruce, I wanted to ask you, who’s the woman in the other cell on the transport?” Ferris wondered as she came to stand behind the man.

“That’s just some misguided ensign who tried to help Lore,” he said offhandedly as though she wasn’t worth discussing.

Lore watched the pair nervously and hoped that Ferris let go of her curiosity. He really didn’t want her to realize that the woman in the cell was the same woman from Omicron Theta that she’d treated after a supposed miscarriage.

“There’s something eerily familiar about her. What’s her name?”

“Marni, please. The woman is unimportant. I need to concentrate,” he grumbled.

The blond woman shrugged and walked back over to the other side of the android. She replaced the section of synthetic muscle and skin and repaired the seam. Lore’s brain relaxed a little now that he was back in one piece.

“You know, Lore,” she began to say slowly, “that woman reminds me so much of the one that used to work with Juliana. Is she related to her in some way?”

Lore was restrained of course and couldn’t reply to her questions either way. So he narrowed his eyes and stared her down.

“What was her name? It was Lee something, wasn’t it? I remember thinking what an odd name for such a pretty young woman,” she continued in a conversational manner.

Maddox looked over at the two of them with a pursed expression. “Lee? Lore called that ensign ‘Lee’ just before. The woman’s name is Wesley Crusher.”

Lore was cursing himself for being so careless, but how was he to know that someone from thirty-four years ago was going to pop up and call them out on Wesley’s time-travelling shenanigans.

“Maybe it’s a weird habitual thing. Maybe it calls all it’s girlfriends ‘Lee’,” Marni offered with another shrug. Then she lazily ran a wanton hand up the android’s abdomen and let it rest on his chest. “Strange though.”

“Did your Lee have a daughter?” Maddox asked dubiously as he tried to mostly ignore her.

“No,” she said with a frown. “She did have a stillborn baby, but I never saw the child. I believe Juliana buried it in her vegetable garden, or something; they were so odd. I bet Lore here knows.”

“Stop messing with him,” Maddox snapped as he took notice of how the doctor was allowing her hand to linger too long on the android’s chest. “Some dead infant from over thirty years ago has nothing to do with Lore and his daughter,” he ranted without thinking.

“What nonsense are you going on about?” 

“The android has a daughter...or so I have been led to believe,” Maddox elaborated.

“Ugh, what human person would let that machine parent their child?”

Maddox was already tired from listening to the woman prattle on. He didn’t need her to know about his suspicions about the girl being mostly synthetic; at least not yet.

“Dr. Ferris, will you please monitor the android’s readouts while I initiate the overwrite sequence,” Maddox inquired a little harshly.

“Of course. No need to get uppity,” Ferris rebutted with offence.

“Don’t worry Lore, soon you won’t have a care in the world. You’ll be compliant and obedient,” the scientist assured him as he made eye contact again. “No more running amok and causing harm to others.”

Maddox tapped few more buttons. Within moments Lore could feel his mind fight against the new initiatives flooding his matrix. He still couldn’t control his body and had no way of disconnecting the link from Maddox’s computer to his brain. He grunted against the sensation with his mouth still forced shut. 

Then Lore slowly felt a fog roll in. It was as though his memories were fading away and his fear along with them. He stilled and went quiet while his eyes unfocused.

......


	38. For Whom the Bell Tolls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wesley tries to save the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for violence, character death, blood and possibly tears.

Wesley tried not to cry out as she zapped her fingers for the millionth time. She had managed to pry off one the wall panels and was trying to short out one of force field relays. 

“Come on you stupid piece of crap!” she grumbled loudly. “How far are you going to let this go, Q? Are you still having a laugh at my expense?” She didn’t actually expect an answer, after all she hadn’t heard from him in almost three years.

Mr. Fender came to check on her. He smiled at her sad attempt to escape. “We just got word that we’re on standby to depart. That means your droid is all but erased,” the large man mused.

“So then there’s no real point in my shorting out the force field?” she asked in a matter-of-fact way.

“Not that you could.”

“Oh right,” she said with a frown as though he were correct. Then the field sputtered and the familiar buzz went quiet, indicating the force field was gone. “Oh well, too late,” she added smugly.

Fender’s face fell and then he scowled at her. “Just try and get past me, I dare you.”

Wesley considered her odds for a moment. He was definitely almost three times her size and he had a firearm. Then she remembered one of the fighting techniques Tasha Yar had mentioned ages ago. If you’re sure your opponent is stronger than you, never try to take them. You just have to out maneuver them.

So she took a short run at him and when the large man tried to hit her she fell to the floor and slid easily between his legs. Then she stood as fast as she could and gave his backside a hard roundhouse kick and knocked him into the cell. As he regained his balance and turned around she slammed her elbow down into the control panel. The computer reacted as though someone was tampering with the cell controls and instantly reinitiated the force field; shutting Fender on the other side with his riffle.

“Oops, at least the field is up again,” she said coyly as she turned to go.

“You bitch!” he shouted in frustration.

“One down, one to go...I hope,” she commented out loud to herself as she worried her lower lip. She was fairly certain the guard wouldn’t have the intelligence, or a small enough hand to reach into panel and short out the field the way she had.

The ensign managed to discretely make her way from the transport to the cybernetics lab. It was difficult to say if they were on a planet, or a space station. Everything looked shiny and computerized; and she really didn’t have time to investigate at the moment.

As she arrived at a promising corridor she was met by Mr. Kay. She hadn’t been able to arm herself as of yet and she wasn’t quite sure how she would get past the guard.

“He threatened your daughter’s life,” she repeated to herself a few times as though the mantra was her incentive not to back down.

“Aren’t you meant to be locked up on the transport?” asked Kay without much alarm. Then he heard her talking to herself and grew concerned that she was unstable. “What are you muttering?” Kay demanded unkindly.

“Nothing, I just needed to stretch my legs,” Wesley told him as she performed actual stretches to distract him. By now she was sure that Lore had been a bad influence on her.

“Turn around and put your hands on you head. I don’t want any trouble from you,” the guard muttered with annoyance.

“I think I’d rather enter the lab and see what Maddox is up to,” she rebutted without fear. “It will only take a moment, I swear.”

Mr. Kay aimed his weapon at her and she froze, putting her hands up in air. 

“Okay, fine. I’m turning around,” she said with reluctance as she did what he had asked. However, she couldn’t just let herself get dragged away. Not when she’d already come so far. So when he came close enough, she pretended to faint and fell to the floor, face down.

When Kay made the mistake of bending over her prone body and turning her over, she swiftly kicked up and into his groin. As he doubled over in pain she head butted him, breaking his nose. He cursed, bloodied and confused as he fell off balance and toppled to one side.

She snatched his riffle and hit him in the head with it. “Hmm, if only Dr. Soong could see me now. I told him that I could defend myself,” she said with fake confidence when she was satisfied that he was out cold. Then she put a free hand to her head and winced. She wasn’t sure if it was her blood or Kay’s on her hand, but she once again didn’t have time to investigate.

As Wesley entered the lab with the riffle two faces turned towards her. Maddox, ever the coward, put his hands up instinctively and backed away from his console. Dr. Ferris, on the other hand, scoffed at her ridiculous heroic display.

“Really? I wouldn’t fire that thing in here,” the doctor mocked as she indicated the phaser riffle. “There’s a lot of delicate equipment and you wouldn’t want to damage the android.”

“Then I guess I better be careful,” the ensign rebutted as she took aim and shot the offensive woman.

Dr. Ferris looked horrified as she took the impact of the beam and fell stunned to the floor. Dr. Maddox was standing now and he reached for something while Wesley was distracted.

“You’re a foolish woman. I was ready to help you against your charges, but now you’ve assaulted a renowned surgeon,” he informed her coldly.

“More like a bigoted, anti-synthetic jackass,” she quipped. “Never thought I’d see her again, let alone with you.”

“Did you kill her?” It was difficult for Wesley to discern from the man’s tone whether he was actually concerned or not if his partner was dead.

“No, just stunned, although this is a bit close in range for such a powerful weapon,” she explained with a bit of a shrug. “Now remove Lore’s restraints, or you’re next,” she instructed as she took her aim at Maddox.

The man cowered a little. He hid the instrument he’d palmed just before and did as she instructed. One by one he undid the straps holding the android in place. Not that he required them any longer.

“Now disconnect him from your computer,” she demanded as she came closer to Lore’s head.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. The new protocols are still uploading. If I stop the process now there’s no telling what will happen to his matrix,” Maddox told her frankly.

“Just do it, Maddox! Stop stalling,” she snapped as she pointed her phaser at him again.

“Fine, but I warned you,” he grumbled with offence as he tapped a few keys before disengaging the physical hookup to the android’s exposed inner workings in his head.

Wesley gestured for the scientist to move away again once his task was complete. Maddox walked towards the end of the table as she bent down to touch Lore’s face. He seemed to be looking past her instead of at her.

“Lore, speak to me. Are you alright?” she coxed as she cupped his face with one hand and kept the other on the riffle.

He slowly began to focus on her face. “Test mode. Can’t move,” he whispered.

“What’s he talking about? Fix it Maddox,” she said with a touch of desperation.

The man scowled at her relentless demands, but made his way back over to the android’s head. Since his link was severed he would have to do it in a more close and personal way. He applied one of his many tools to the still exposed workings near Lore’s hairline. When the android began flexing his fingers for the first time in ages, the man closed the panel and moved away again.

“Better?” she asked with a smile.

“Better,” Lore repeated softly.

The android sat himself up, but remained on the table. When Wesley went to help him stand, Lore shook his head slowly.

“Don’t...I don’t think I’ll be going with you,” he said quietly with a pained expression.

“Lore, it will be alright. Whatever he tried to do we can fix it. I just need to get you back to the Enterprise,” she told him as calmly as she could. She really wished in that moment that she had something to offer him to cover his naked body.

“It’s too late. I can feel it. My systems are already shutting down,” he said knowing that he wouldn’t make out of the room. “I n-n-need to tell y-you...”

“Whatever you need to tell me can wait. We can fix you; I’m sure it’s just the new programming messing with your old,” she bargained unwilling to believe that he wouldn’t recover.

“He’s right, you know. It’s too late. Either I finish upgrading him, or he’ll go into cascade failure,” Maddox informed her as he dared to come closer.

“Don’t...listen...to...him,” insisted Lore, every word was a struggle now. “Don’t...let...him..finish.” The android was afraid that if Maddox succeeded and he did regain functionality he wouldn’t be himself anymore. He would rather crash than not be himself.

“This wasn’t the deal. We were meant to be together. So you tell your brain to pull itself together,” she said with conviction as she looked into his eyes and continued to refuse believe this was the end.

“Lee...you need to...know...I used it...” Lore struggled to tell her.

“Used what?” she asked as she strained to understand him.

“Lee...watch...Ma-Maddox...” he muttered as Maddox caught his attention, but couldn’t get his body to react.

It was too late. While she was trying to figure out what Lore was saying, Maddox stabbed her with his scalpel from the side. The instrument handle was now sticking out from in between her ribs. Then the scientist took her by the hair and smashed her head into the steel table next to where Lore was sitting and still unable to react. 

With Wesley nearly unconscious it was easy for Maddox to snatch the riffle from her grasp. He backed off a few paces and took aim at the two criminals. Lore was helpless, his mind almost gone, and he could only watch as his injured lover slipped to floor.

Wesley was determined not to black out. She struggled to take in air and was fairly certain that the man had sliced into her right lung, causing it to collapse. She could feel fresh blood run down her face from her head wound. Then she coughed up some blood and became very reluctant to remove the instrument from where it stuck out from her side.

“Good idea. You might bleed out,” Maddox said cruelly as he watched her abandon any attempt to pull the scalpel out. He arrogantly put the riffle down so that he could go back to work.

“You...can’t...stop...it,” muttered Lore as the madman went to reconnect him to the console.

“Shut up and let me try,” Maddox told him, almost sounding sympathetic to his distress. “Besides if I fail with you I might be forced to try something similar with Data one day and we wouldn’t want him to fail like you are, would we?”

“You creep,” Wesley sputtered on the floor. She was beginning to realize that no one was coming to save them. Not Data, not Picard, and certainly not Q. Her curse of bad luck was giving her one final kick in the teeth and she wasn’t going down without a fight.

“Lee...do...do..” Lore was trying his best to say something to her, but she didn’t wait to hear the rest of it. 

She very carefully pulled out the scalpel from her side before crawling under the table towards Maddox at the console. 

“I wonder how hard it will be to take that abomination of a child once she’s an orphan,” Maddox mused to himself as stood and reached over to reconnect the cable; but the cyberneticist didn’t get the chance to complete the connection.

Bruce Maddox wore an expression of surprise as his throat was slashed open from one side to the other. He mutely dropped the cable as he put both hands up to try to put pressure on the obscene wound. The blood loss was too much and he fell to the floor in a pool of his own making.

Wesley appeared behind where Maddox had been standing. She was holding the scalpel tightly in her hand, her sleeve cuff soaked in the dead man’s blood. Then she leaned heavily on the table and coughed.

“Lee...no,” Lore said mournfully, never intending his beloved to become a murderer. “Give,” he pleaded.

“What?” she sobbed, overcome by the horror she had just committed.

Lore flexed his fingers at her and tried to point at the blade. She thought for moment that he wanted her to put it in his hand so that he could take the blame. She shook her head, knowing that no one would believe he would still be capable of killing anyone in his current condition. Besides, she felt as though he had taken enough blame in his life for crimes he’d never committed.

She took a deep breath—as deep as she could manage in her current state—and climbed up onto the table with him. It took all she had left in her, but she wanted to be holding him when he faded out for good. She wrapped her arms around him, dropping the scalpel to the metal table with a clang.

“I love you, Lore. I will always love you,” she told him with all her heart.

“Me...too,” was all he could manage.

“Remember when we danced in that old cabin? That damned cabin we never even got to live in,” she said with a pained laugh.

“On..ly...you,” he whispered so quietly she wasn’t sure he’d actually spoken.

“What will I do without you, Lore?” she sobbed. “My one and only you?”

Then she kissed him, but he didn’t quite respond. She thought that maybe she could feel him smile a little. When she moved away to look in his eyes again she knew that he was gone. The once bright and cunning yellow-gold orbs were dull and lifeless.

The sound of the door sliding open caught her noticed, though she refused to look away from him. She wasn’t ready to let him go. 

“Move away from the droid and put your damned hands behind your head,” instructed Mr. Kay crossly.

Wesley knew she had no choice. She slowly slid off the metal table and put her bloodied hands on top of her head, even though she was ready to pass out from her head wound and the cut into her ribs. Mr. Fender came around and check Lore as Mr. Kay applied restraints to the woman’s wrists. He wasn’t taking any chances this time.

“No one’s home,” commented Fender as he regarded the naked android with a look of disgust; Lore’s golden skin now marked with smears of human blood.

“What the hell happened in here?” Kay asked with authority as he finally located Maddox lying dead on the floor under the table.

Wesley wheezed as she tried to stay upright. She decided not to say anything and made it abundantly clear that she wasn’t going to tell them.

“Looks like she’s wounded,” Fender told Kay as he curled his lip, feeling slightly satisfied that she hadn’t remained unharmed.

Just then Dr. Ferris groaned from off in the corner of the room. “At least that one’s still alive,” grumbled Kay. “Better take her into custody as well until we have this all sorted.”

Fender nodded and hit his comm badge. “Fender to Jaros II transport. Looks like we have a bit of mess on our hands. Taking two into custody, but we’ll need a medical team and a coroner as well.”

“You sure you have nothing to say, Ensign?” prodded Kay for a second time.

Wesley’s kept her gaze on Lore as she dared to give him one request. “Please just make sure Lt Comdr Data gets custody of his brother’s remains.”

Fender and Kay exchanged a look. Then Kay seemed to soften a little. “We will do what we can. Sorry for your loss.”

The injured woman had lost a lot of blood at this point and wasn’t entirely sure she had heard him correctly. She wasn’t sure if he was actually being sympathetic, or if delirium was setting in.

......

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: This could have gone a few different ways. This is the way I chose to go. I’m sorry if some of you lovely readers don’t like it. I hope we can still be friends. Originally things were going to end all wrapped up nice in a bow, but then my brain kept going and another weird story beyond this one popped up. The last chapter is an epilogue and there will be another part.


	39. Epilogue—Beginning Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Data visits Wesley. Juliana says goodbye to Lore.

Three weeks went by before Data was able to get back to Earth to visit his detained friend. Wesley Crusher was still awaiting the results of the inquest into what actually happened at the controversial lab of the now deceased Dr. Bruce Maddox.

The android tried his best not to frown as he sat down at the table in the sparse penitentiary visiting space. He could see how changed the young woman looked since the last time he’d seen her. Not just in her ragged, drawn appearance, but in her mental state. Wesley had always been full of energy and ready to take on any challenge. It something he’d admired about her. Today she looked defeated and resigned to her fate. He couldn’t help but feel guilty for his part in her initial arrest.

“Hello Wesley,” he greeted her plainly. “How have you been?”

She stared at the table top and scratched her thumb nail at a nick in the finish. “Oh, you know,” she said distractedly. The truth was that she was depressed. She hadn’t been sleeping all that well and the stress of losing Lore and not knowing if she would ever see her daughter again was making it difficult to keep anything down, let alone eat proper meals.

“I understand that you are pleading self-dense. Though it would make more sense to enter a plea of momentary insanity,” Data said casually when it became obvious that she wouldn’t say anything more.

“I knew what I was doing,” she told him in hushed tones as she made eye contact for the first time. The android noted how haunted her eyes were. “That man murdered the man I love and threatened you and Zoe with the same fate. Besides, he attacked me first.”

“I think it would be best to stick with your latter statement and leave out the part about your premeditated intentions,” he said sadly with a tilt of his head.

“Right, that’s what my lawyer said,” she sighed heavily.

“You have a good lawyer by the sounds of things,” he added plainly not really knowing what else to say to her.

“Why are you here? I didn’t think I was allowed visitors yet,” she noted as she tried to look him in the eye again, but found his familiar golden features too hard to face.

“I am here to offer a statement on your behalf. Lore was technically my only living relative and I wish to see justice for what happened to him. If Maddox is no longer alive to receive punishment for his misdeeds I want to ensure that I am protected as well as any future sentient synthetic life.”

She knew he was hinting at Zoe, but didn’t feel safe to outright say so; for which she was grateful. Then she remembered something that Maddox had said about Data giving his permission for him to reprogram Lore.

“Data, I need to ask...was Dr. Maddox lying, or did you give him permission to add his new protocols to Lore’s programming?”

“I never gave him any such permission, I assure you,” he said sincerely. “The man was unhinged. We came to learn that Starfleet had already thrown him out of the Daystrom Institute and were subsequently not behind his schemes.”

“So they say,” she grumbled unconvinced that Starfleet wouldn’t have had a contingency plan in case something went wrong. After all, no one pressed charges back when they threatened to remove Lal from Data’s care and unintentionally caused her to go into cascade failure.

“Wes, it would be best to play the part of the loyal and good Starfleet Ensign right now. If you prove that you were thinking of the greater good and protecting your fellow officers then they may be more lenient in their assessment.”

She scratched at the table finish again as she thought about what he was saying. She knew he was right, but she still didn’t like the idea. “What about Lore? Anything?”

Data sat back a little and looked away from her. She watched his expression change out of the corner of her eye and knew that he had nothing good to report.

“Geordi and I tried what we could to recover him, however it quickly became apparent that there was nothing left to salvage; his matrix failed to reinitialize,” he explained as he tried to keep his voice even. “Juliana was understandably heartbroken and requested that I allow her to take him with her to Atrea IV for burial. I tried to insist that such a traditional ceremony was unnecessary, but she was fairly fixed in her resolve.”

“What about Lore’s memories? The ones that Maddox downloaded before he started to overwrite him?” she questioned as she obviously fought to keep from breaking down in tears.

“I have custody of all of Maddox’s research. Most of it was rightfully my Father’s. Captain Picard made a compelling argument to Starfleet Command that I should have it,” he explained as he took her hand to offer support. “That being said, even with many of Lore’s early memories safely saved, without a functional matrix they will not do him any good.”

“I know, but at least this way you still have something of him,” she said affectionately.

“And Zoe will too,” he offered softly. “She is doing well. Your mother has stepped in and taken on full custody of her while you are indisposed. She hopes to visit you soon.”

Wesley wiped away a stray tear that had escaped when Data mentioned her daughter by name. She was grateful that he’d volunteered an update. She wasn’t feeling up to asking him herself.

“Poor Picard,” Wesley said with sympathy. “His Second Officer is dealing with the murder of his brother; his Chief Engineer is expecting his first child any day; and now his Chief Medical Officer is a single parent again for the foreseeable future.”

“You will be home again soon,” Data told her with importance as he gave her hand a squeeze.

She looked down at their hands and wondered what his true motivation was for his visit. “Data, you know that you will always be important to me, right?”

“And you to me,” he conceded without hesitation. Though he did feel lingering guilt over how he’d turned his back on her for helping his brother elude them.

“But I can’t go back...I can’t be with you after being with Lore,” she told him in earnest.

“I understand. I stand by what I told you long ago. My affections for you runs deeper than physical desire. All I want is your friendship and the knowledge that we will always be in each other’s lives.”

“That’s what I want too. I hope you can forgive me for what happened,” she said as her heart ached with regret.

“I already have. When I saw how much my brother really loved you—when he finally dropped his guard—I knew that you had no choice but to do what you believed would be in his best interest. Even if it was legally wrong.”

“You saw that in him?” she questioned unsure of when that had happened.

“When I shamefully pushed you back at him, Lore not only caught you but turned his body to shield you from the phaser blast.”

“Oh, right,” she muttered as she tried to remember the incident. She knew he must be telling the truth. Between his perfect memory and their mixed feelings for one another he had no reason to lie.

“I must go to give my interview now, but I will try to speak to you again before I leave,” he told her as he reluctantly let go of her hand and stood.

“Data, one last thing...what happened to Dr. Ferris?”

The android paused as he retrieved the needed information. “Dr. Marietta Ferris was stripped of her medical licence and sent to the asylum in France. She was ranting about an android uprising, robot babies and a woman who never aged. She may have been referring to you because she was demanding they cut you open and look for your android parts.”

“That’s upsetting,” she said as she tried not to laugh. She knew she shouldn’t take pleasure in the woman’s obvious mental breakdown, but it was the best thing she’d heard since she was taken into custody.

“Indeed.”

“I want to hug you, but I’m certain that’s frowned upon conduct around here,” she told her friend with a warm smile. 

Data was relived to see Wesley look close to normal again. “Then I will owe you a hug when you are back safe and sound on the Enterprise.”

“Well...maybe you can hug Zoe for me in the meantime,” she told him sweetly. Then she thought of another issue. “You know I resigned, right?”

The android gave her an odd look. “That is not correct. You had informed Captain Picard that you would resign, however you did not officially give him your resignation. I believe he expects you to report for duty as soon as you are able.”

She wanted to cry again. She couldn’t understand why everyone was still being so good to her after all she’d done and put them through. “You’re sure about that?”

“I am most certainly sure,” he replied as the corners of his mouth subtly upturned.

.....

Dr. Juliana Tainer was understandably sad when she went to say her last goodbyes to her eldest android son. She’d laid him out on a bed in the stylish modern cottage that she had hoped he would live in with Zoe and Lee. She found it disheartening that she had come so close to regaining her family after so many years apart, only to fail. 

The sliver haired woman straighten the android’s collar. She’d made sure to dress him in something he would have liked as a way to forget that he died naked and mistreated. She leaned down and kissed his cheek before walking to the doorway.

As she reached for the light switch she paused. The men would arrive in the morning to help her bury him, but the scientist in her wasn’t ready to let go just yet.

She swiftly walked back over to him and tucked a finger into the notch at the base of his skull. Then she counted to sixty before trying the switch in his back one last time. She tried a random pattern to the clicks since a direct on and off wasn’t proving effective.

Juliana held her breath as she watched Lore for any sign of consciousness. He twitched a little and flexed his fingers as he had before when Geordi and Data tried to revive him, but his eyes remained closed.

She sighed and decided to believe the facts. He was not coming back online.

“Goodnight, sweet prince,” she whispered lovingly as she went to reach under his back to switch him off one last time. 

However, as she moved closer to him, his golden hand grabbed her wrist. Juliana stared down at his closed fingers for a moment before she dared to look into his face. When she did, she found two very confused looking golden eyes staring back at her.

“Lore?” she asked with great distress.

He didn’t reply, but continued to watch her intently. She gently manipulated each of his fingers to release their hold. He seemed to be watching her every move now.

“Do you know who I am?” she whispered, still unsure that he was actually processing what was happening.

He slowly shook his head and she almost cried out with joy that he had at least showed signs of comprehension.

“My name is Juliana,” she told him as she sat beside him and gently smoothed his hair at his forehead. 

“Juli...an..na?” he asked as he tried to say her name.

“I don’t understand. Data tried to bring you back for days,” she rambled to herself. “Why are you functional now?”

“Now?” he repeated quietly as he briskly sat up. 

Juliana jumped up and took a few steps back. It was a good thing that she did because he abruptly swung his legs—stock straight—over the side of the small bed. As he put his feet on the floor and went to stand Juliana put a hand up. 

“Stay,” she commanded, unsure that he would understand enough to take her direction.

The android looked at her hand and remained seated.

She wanted to test that he was actually complying with her instruction and not staying still out of confusion. “Stand up,” she told him as she took a step back to give him room.

The android stood and tilted his head. 

“Now sit down again,” she requested softly.

The android sat down and tilted his head to the opposite side like a curious puppy.

This time Juliana did let out a cry of excitement. She felt like a kid on Christmas morning. 

“Are you well, Julie-ana?” he inquired as he continued to observe her odd behaviour.

“Yes, I’m just very, very happy,” she reassured him.

The android smiled brightly at her. “Am I happy?” he asked eager to please.

She wasn’t sure if he meant how he looked, or how he felt. She had no idea how he felt, but his face looked happy enough, so she nodded.

“Yes, my dear. You look very happy too.”

Juliana knew that they would have a long road ahead if they were starting from scratch, but a working, stable matrix meant the promise that one day they could restore his memories if they wanted, or he could even become someone new.

Now she just had to explain Data that his brother was awake and in need of time and plenty of patience. Telling her husband was going to be a whole other story.

.....  
To be continued....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone for reading. And thank you for the kudos and comments! I am working out a few plot details, but I already have several chapters ready for my next instalment. You know if you aren’t sick of these guys yet.   
> Cheers!   
> MayRaven1798


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